


A Town Called Aberleigh

by dragontatoes



Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Enemies to Friends, Mild Language, Multi, Multiple Crossovers, Past Character Death, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-13 11:24:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 23,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12983037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragontatoes/pseuds/dragontatoes
Summary: Aberleigh is a small town full of stories. Merida's not keen on it quite yet, Rapunzel's just found the world she lost years ago, and Hiccup finds there's even more to discover after the dragons have all moved in. This modern crossover involves much more than just Brave and HTTYD. Tangled and ROTG, and possibly others will be included. Updates weekly to monthly, incomplete.This is a fic I published under the same username on fanfiction.net in 2014. Only minor errors have been revised. Beginning notes are from the original publish date, those at the end are from the date published on this site.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve promised myself I’d never write fanfiction. Also that if I did go crazy and write some, I’d never post it. But here I am. Doing this. But this dumb plot has been building all over itself in my head for pretty much a year and it’s getting too long and complicated not to write down, plus I’d like to show what I’ve thought up to friends and whatever. Basically this is just me trying to make a big modern crossover world of all my favorite characters and their dumb lives together. So yay. Enjoy. If it’s possible to enjoy this crap. Why is this so embarrassing

She hadn’t had the last week to get into the forest, it didn’t matter what it looked like rain. Let it rain. Some cold air and alone time is all Merida needed.

Since she didn’t have a proper target to use, a tree would have to do. Preferably a mossy one, the arrows didn’t sink into the hard wood very well and with only a dozen at her disposal, Merida couldn’t afford to damage or lose any. She hated that. Even to do the one thing that could help her unwind, she still had to take precautions. Still, the moment the first arrow met its target, she instantly felt better. Every thunk she heard shot one more stressor out of her mind. The first round was just for everyone she’d been burning to punch lately.

Only four rounds, she’d told herself; but turning back towards home as the drizzle grew heavier, Merida slowly traced her finger down on an arrow again. Her fingers had begun to ache and she half expected Angus to whine at her before remembering she might never hear him again.   
“One more. Just  _ one _ more.”

Merida turned her back on her target, adjusted for the longer distance, and heard something wrong at the release. A torn fletching was left in her hand.   
Shite.

Her head whipped back up at the sound of a yelp, in the direction of the arrow.   
SHITE.

Her thoughts and springing legs both ran frantically. It could have been an animal. And animal instead of a person would make her feel just as awful, but at least she might not get into trouble for it.  _ Please just be a spooked bird! _ She looked frantically around where it seemed to have landed. She never missed. Stupid fletchings, stupid arrow. Where was the stupid arrow? What did the stupid arrow hit?

“This yours?” She turned to see the stupid arrow held out to her by a very unsettled and rain-soaked boy.

“I didn’t hit you, did I?”

“Called it a little close, but I’m fine.” The front of his brown hair stuck to his forehead, making him look as unimpressive as the damaged arrow he handed back. “But, you know, this part of the forest restricts hunting.”

Her father had been in the city council and had complained to the family about the older and more powerful members, placing restrictions on activities all over the area, including the forests. “I wasn’t hunting, just shooting. And from what I’ve heard, the hunting laws are a bit wishy-washy around here.”

He looked at her for a moment before asking, “You wouldn’t happen to know Fergus DunBroch, would you?”

“He’s my dad.”

The boy nodded, not surprised. “Yeah, I thought so.”

She already knew she didn’t like this kid. “Why do you know my father?”

“He works with mine. Sort of. My dad’s said he doesn’t agree on a lot of the newere regulations on hunting, dragons, all that stuff.” It was unnatural how skinny this guy managed to look while wearing a hoodie. “And you all came here from Scotland, right?”

She only answered with a questioning, “Yeah…”

He was definitely from her school, always sitting next to the giant blonde guy in biology (well, the  _ other _ one. MacGuffin was next to her).

“Your name is something Haddock. Wait, Stoick Haddock… You’re Stoick’s kid?” Although she hadn’t met him she knew he’d been called a taller, thicker-bearded likeness of her own burly father, and his apparent son looked to her like a young child with too-long limbs. From how he looked back at her, it seemed like he already knew she was thinking it.

“The one and only,” he sighed. “And it’s Hiccup.”

“Well, don’t get acting hoity-toity because your daddy’s in charge around here. She pointed Northeast, where the hunting grounds were, then to where they stood, explaining, “The hunting area’s for hunting, this part’s for whatever else.”

“Actually, the point of a non-hunting area is sort of that nobody uses weapons in it.”

The distasteful way he spoke of weapons got him only more onto her nerves. “It’s just a sporting bow. And it’s not like I let arrows fly willy-nilly. I know how to shoot without hitting anyone.”

Hiccup gestured to himself, “So…?”

Merida stuck the arrow’s end inches from his face and warned, “See this? Fletching tore. I never miss, I never hit anyone. You’re fine. Not a big deal.”

Scowling at him, she dropped the arrow back into her quiver. He almost immediately turned from flustered to expressionless and spoke dryly back at her.

“Well, sorry if my near-death experience has inconvenienced you. I’ll be on my way, carry on with your misdemeanor.”

She scoffed as she watched him walk off in the direction of town.

Just that fast, a stupid broken arrow and a stupid skinny boy with a stupid name had undone everything the archery had solved, and just when it was too dark to shoot anymore.

“At least I had some reason to be out here,” she called back at him, “Were you trying to catch a cold, or maybe practicing a dramatic monologue?”  Hiccup halted and took a look over his shoulder at her. His glare sparked her bright smile.  “Oh, sorry I’ve interrupted you. You carry on too, then. Everyone needs a lonely stroll in the rain every once in a while, don’t they?”

By the time she’d finished, Hiccup had disappeared behind some thick brush without seeming to listen. Annoying him wasn’t quite satisfying enough to make up for the annoyance he’d caused, but all there was left to do now was return home. Merida counted her arrows and started home, hoping her mother wouldn’t fret over any mud on her clothes, but knowing she would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This passage was first posted to FF.net Sept. 14, 2014. There are some parts I'd like to edit, but as weird as it sounds, I want the story to reflect my growth as a writer. I don't like to use the words "dumb", "stupid", or "crazy" so casually anymore. My characters do use different vocabulary than me, though, and I find Merida's appropriate to her character. I'm excited to add more to this story soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have some more junk writing. Yeah, I know it’s short. I just started college this week… So there’s that…

Hiccup hadn’t arrived in the woods alone. It didn’t take long to spot his companion playfully terrorizing a few birds up a tree and coax him to glade back down to the forest floor. Toothless roaming freely never worried him; his dragon was still the most intelligent and loyal of any he’d observed. Most of the time he strayed of, if was just to chase small animals anyway, and he always returned as soon as he was called. The girl he’d just encountered, whom he’d decided to mentally file as “abrasive at best”, was very wrong in assuming he was alone. Besides, he didn’t see anyone with her.

ON the other hand, she had a point in saying he didn’t have any real reason to be wandering out in the rain. At least, none other than to find some peace and quiet in a usually peaceful and quiet place. In previous years, when he couldn’t have listed two friends at a time, the forest somehow just became a safe haven. Maybe it was its desertedness or the way it made one forget themselves, but it held a unique beauty. A year after befriending Toothless, changing the public stance on dragons, gaining friends, and losing a foot, that still hadn’t changed.

Today, however, the forest air held flying arrows and the floor became a layer of mud. Crossing the clearing again, he hoped home would be more relaxing.

 

“I have a cousin?”

“Born just a couple years before you. I didn’t expect you’d remember her.” Gobber had conveniently left their house after dinner, but before Stoick began cleanup and dropped the news on Hiccup.

“Wait, why didn’t I know about this?”

“Well, she went missing. Presumed kidnapped. Turns out now, they were right.”

Hiccup gaped, “Are you trying to tell me police found her body chopped up in some lunatic’s RV or something?”

“I said I had  _ good _ news, didn’t I? She’s alive, healthy, safe. And home. Thomas said she wants to meet the rest of the family.” This information was quite jarring. His aunt and uncle never had children, as far as he had known, but a distance had grown between their small families and he hadn’t been in good contact with them for years. Still, to suddenly hear differently was too much to take in like this, and every question answered made Hiccup want to ask two more.

“But why didn’t you ever tell me any of this? That they had a daughter, or the kidnapping thing? I feel like that should have come up in a conversation at some point. When did all of this happen?”

Stoick started, “Hiccup,”

Yet Hicup continued, “And Tom and Prim just… lost a kid? And that’s it? Did we stop seeing them because of  _ that? _ ”

“Now, hold on-”

“You’re not going to actually answer any of this, are you?”

“HIccup!” Stoick’s unintentionally booming voiced finally silenced him. “Just stop. For a second. I know you’re confused. And no, there wasn’t exactly a golden opportunity to bring up a family member we’ve all assumed was dead for the last decade. It’s not easy to talk about people you’ll never see again.”

For once in the conversation, Hiccup stopped trying to interject. After an understood silence, he finally mumbled back, “I know.”

Stoick sighed and said, “I’m sorry, Hiccup. I can tell you more in the morning, if you’d like.”

Toothless wandered into the nook to nudge his face into Hiccup’s hand. He murmured, “Sure,” petting black scales and getting up from his seat.

Following Toothless back out of the room, he retrieved the backpack he’d left by the front door. Once seeing that Stoick had turned back into the kitchen, he searched through the lowest bookshelf and silently collected an old photo album before heading back to his own room.

He was sure the album hadn’t been opened in years for a number of reasons, some of which being:

  1. Neither he nor Stoick were expecially interested in reviewing younger versions of themselves.
  2. It had been crammed beside dozens of other equally as uninteresting books: tattered dictionaries, outdated manuals…
  3. The album had chiefly been started, maintained, and regarded as belonging to his mother.



The way the spine cracked when he opened it on his desk all but confirmed that nobody else had done so since she last closed it. Though at sixteen he still didn’t care much for how he looked, he was immediately very certain he did not like his baby pictures. However, if he weren’t self-conscious about it, the way his wide eyes looked absolutely terrified nearly all of the time was a bit amusing.

A few pages in, he found what he was looking for. A photo showed a small blonde girl, looking to be about two years old, smiling at his infant self. DEspite him being alarmingly frail and on a breathing tube, she was beaming with excitement. Toothless cooed, leaning in to sniff the pages.

“So, Rapunzel, was it? Hiding in plain sight, all this time.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah I didn’t even realize I didn’t write for two weeks. Well, that happened. These also keep getting shorter, so I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

 

Angry, laying on her bed, Merida wished badly that it was the gangly idiot at the other end of the rubber band gun. And also that it was a real gun, or perhaps a flamethrower. Her brothers’ toy wasn’t much of a stress-reliever.

“You shouldn’t shoot in the house.” Her mother appeared in her doorway. Merida shot a look at her mother and dropped her arm down.

“Where else am I going to shoot? Can’t do it outside the house, I’d be burned at the stake.”

Elinor crossed her arms and scoffed, “You should be thankful to not be in trouble.”

“Oh, I’m  _ not _ in trouble?” That wasn’t true, they both knew it. “I’ll say thanks when I have my bow back.”

“You cannot learn what right without consequence.”

All of their arguing was growing bothersome, but still Merida challenged, “Tell me what I did wrong, then!”

“You  _ cannot  _ be reckless here. Did it ever cross your mind that one slip of the hand could have killed someone?” That warning should have sounded worse, but had a bit of concern folded into it now.

“I didn’t even know anyone was there! When have I ever tried hurting someone?”

“Settle down. I never accused you-”

“He did.” Merida’s voice was low, but firm. She turned away, thinking Elinor would reprimand her for the interruption, but she responded calmly.

“Do you know why he would tell his father you shot at him?”

“Because he’s a horrid, whiny scunner, like every kid from here,” Merida grumbled.

With shut eyes, Elinor shook her head and groaned, “I pray your brothers don’t hear half of what you say, they’ll learn to copy. We all have enough to get used to here. Just give this a chance, would you?”

There was too much to say, too many more reasons to not ‘give this a chance’ than Merida could even start on. “It’s not fair.”

She’d said it countless times before, during, and after their move. By now, her mother had heard it enough. She left the room with an impatient response, “Merida, it’s not the end of the world.”

Merida, in reply, threw the door shut behind her and could picture Elinor wincing at the slam. Then, falling back onto the bed, buried her face into the pillow, then her fingers in like claws. It felt like her blood had gone past boiled and burnt. There wasn’t even any use being angry anymore, and she knew it, but there was no stopping it. So she just stayed like that for a long time, deciding to wait for morning. Looking out the window only to see that the green hills had been replaced with the mildewy siding of the next house over ruined then entire day every time she woke.  _ Can’t wait _ .

Sometimes, when there was enough silence, it didn’t seem so bad. She really was grateful that the guys were here too. That way she at least had three familiar people at school, and without American accents. Even a few others from the town were decent. Maybe it wasn’t entirely fair to say everyone here was awful, but if her parents didn’t have to be fair, neither did she. And she wasn’t planning on giving chances to people that didn’t give her any, either.

At least now, she had a new target.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, if I were to rewrite this story now, I'd either leave this chapter out or change it drastically. Merida comes off through her tone as more bratty and less upset than intended. There was one sentence I didn't even understand and I just had to replace, haha.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m feeling pretty good about this now. Thank you for the favorites and reviews, although I only just started replying to them because I’m a buttnugget. I’m trying to write longer chapters and write more often now. We’ll see how that turns out. For now, have a long-ass chapter that I probably didn’t fully proofread.

Lunch break was the fourth time,  _ at least _ , that Monday that he’d accidentally met eyes with clearly irritated Merida in passing time. How could it be possible to have that bad luck? Considering past events, pretending to not have seen her while proceeding to the usual spot outside the hall doors seemed like the best choice. Astrid, the twins, and Snotlout were already there, along with Fishlegs, who was still engrossed in his reading. He missed walking to school with them, and none of them shared morning classes with him, making it the first time he’d seen them since Friday. Quite a bit had gone on since then.

“Someone finally made it to school,” Astrid teased.

“I’ve been here since first period.” To be more accurate, “... Halfway through first period.”

“And knowing you-”

“I was working on something this weekend.”

“Oh, boy,” Fishlegs whispered over the small draconology handbook.

They always expected him to be up to something crazy. Justified, with what happened the last year. “Just research. You wouldn’t believe what my dad dropped on me Friday night.”

“Frying pan?” Everyone stopped to look at Tuff with confused expressions. “Just a guess. And it happens.” Ruff nodded to him vacantly.

Hiccup slowly shook his head. “Not literally, I mean he had crazy news.”

Snotlout chimed in, a bit too cheerily asking, “Are you adopted?”

Hiccup reluctantly answered the second interruption, “No, but it does have to do with family.”

“Something about your mom?” Fishlegs offered.

“Can we all stop with the guessing game? They’re only getting worse.”

Astrid urged, “Just tell us, then.”

“Alright. So… My aunt and uncle apparently had a daughter.”

The table went silent again until Snotlout charmingly broke it. “So some old people had a baby, who gives a rat’s ass?”

“...Eighteen years ago. I had a cousin my entire life and didn’t even know. Well, I guess I knew her, before she was kidnapped.” The silence devolved into unamused stares. It took a moment to realize what he just said, paired with its delivery, sounded like a pitch for a bad ABC Family show. “No, I’m not joking, I found pictures of her. Some of the old reports after she went missing… The timing works, everything checks out, she’s for real.”

Half of them were snickering, but Astrid played along, “And she’s been gone how long?”

Hiccup shrugged “About fourteen years… Just enough that I wouldn’t remember, of course.” Oh, this was sounding so fake. He hardly believed Stoick when they first discussed it, how could any of it make sense to them?

“What whackjob hides a stolen kid for fourteen years?” Snotlout asked. “Did he keep her locked in the basement with a salt lick and a bucket? Or were the cops just lazy?”

“Being used by a witch for her health-restoring power, no, she didn’t get out much.” The more he thought of her, the worse he felt. This was all so messed up. “She was manipulated for her entire childhood.”

Snotlout added, “Lots of people go missing around here. All those people in the lack, that guy Lars, Hiccup’s mom…”

Astrid lightly smacked Snotlout’s arm. He still didn’t think to not bring it up, though Hiccup was used to it at this point. She looked away and shook her head. “There’s something seriously wrong with this town.” Nobody could argue with it. As innocent or even quaint as Aberleigh appeared to anyone outside of its limits, nobody living within them ever seemed to get a rest.

Fishlegs fidgeted in concern. “So… Why do we live in it?”

Watching the twins singe their arm hair with a lighter (yeah, that was definitely  _ not _ allowed on campus) and laugh at the smoke, Hiccup answered, “Because we’re crazy.”

Turning back to Hiccup, Astrid said, “It’s weird that your dad wouldn’t tell you something like that, though.”

“If you haven’t noticed, my entire life is weird.” He glanced up to see Merida still staring violently. He hushed to the group, “On that note, does anybody know what the deal with Merida is?”

Fishlegs asked, “Who?”

“Moved from Scotland, big red hair… kind of behind you.” Immediately Hiccup cringed and muttered, “No, don’t all look!” as Snotlout, the twins, and Fishlegs did so. Looking away, he could still feel her eyes burning holes in himself.

They turned back, Snotlout shrugging. “Eh, like a five, but still way out of your league.”

“Definitely not what I was talking about. She’s just bee glaring at me all day. What is that?”

“She’s pissed. Not at you, just in general,” Astrid clarified, “but wouldn’t you be if you had to move here?” She didn’t know the half of it, he knew it was more personal than that.

“She almost shot me the other day, in the section of the forest she shouldn’t even have a bow, and told me _ I  _ was overreacting about the arrow that hit a tree - I swear - less than a yard in front of my face.” Knowing he wasn’t finished, Astrid smiled and waited. “It’s pretty clear she really doesn’t like me, and I think…” He looked again, only to see she’d walked away. “I think she’s planning to kill me.” 

Astrid only laughed quietly. “You can calm down. Unless you deliberately did something to get on her nerves, you’re probably in the clear.”

“I think telling her who my dad is was enough to get her mad.”

“So maybe she’s a little hot-headed. She isn’t stupid enough to pick fights in the first month of school for no reason.”

Astrid was never particularly rude to him before they became friends, but it was impossible for her to stand up like this for a stranger. “Do you know her?”

“I’ve talked to her once or twice.” She gestured to herself and Snotlout, “We all have P.E. together.”

Snotlout gained an enlightened look. “She’s the one with the high socks! Nevermind, seven. At least with the hair up.”

Astrid rolled her eyes away from him grumbling, “We really don’t need your commentary, you know.” Only at that moment did Hiccup finally notice Astrid’s chemistry book. He then realized they shared that class and, yes, he should have had this book with him too.

“Hang on,” he said as he stood back up, “I think I forgot my book in my locker again.”

Wryly smiling, Astrid mocked, “The genius that captured and tamed the most rare and mysterious of dragons… Forgetting the same book for three weeks straight.”

“At least I’m _ remembering _ I forgot it,” he joked back, and reentered the hallway.

He was glad that this year he could open a top locker with no problem. Previous years hadn’t been as easy. In the seventh grade it was either carrying all of his books all day, or stepping on top of them to be able to read the numbers on the lock. After everything Snotlout said about the latter, he mostly stuck to the former. He thought he was alone in the hall until hearing a voice from the other side of the locker door, causing him to jump a bit.

“So a strayed arrow is a murder attempt to you, is it?” Closing the door revealed Merida with a look of murder in her eyes.

He took a half step away and carefully asked, “Uh… what do you mean?”

“I told you it was an accident,” her words biting as she stepped closer, “you know it was.”

All he knew was that this was escalating quickly and couldn’t end well. “I… don’t know what you’re referring-”

“Why did my father hear from yours that I  _ attacked _ you?” The rise of her voice, along with a quick shove to his left shoulder, backed him up against the wall. She wasn’t any larger than him, but undoubtedly more threatening.

“I never told him that.” Hiccup tried his best to keep his voice from shaking. His voice couldn’t shake at this.

“Really.”

“All I said to him was that you shot near me, not on purpose.”  _ Why?  _ Why did he tell him that in the first place?

Incredulous, she demanded, “Tell me who made up the rest, then.”

“Look, it’s clear our dads don’t get along. Don’t you think it’s possible they stretched the story a bit? Mine getting protective, yours getting offended, easy mistake.”

Her face was softening. Thank goodness, the snarl was disappearing. He added, “I don’t want any trouble. I’m assuming, uh, hoping you don’t either. What do you say we drop this, just stay out of each others’ ways?”

She stared for a second, still half menacingly, before giving him that lovely word, “Fine.” Then, grabbed a stack of books from the floor and was off.

Good god, it was like watching a hurricane turn into a rainbow. 

Suddenly, she spun back around. “But I’ll make this clear for you: I don’t need any chicken-legged louts OR their fathers spreading lies about me.”

“Well, sorry. Won’t happen again.” Despite the risky sarcasm in his tone, he found himself pathetically apologizing again to someone that had scared him half to death twice.

At least she was gone now. And actually, quite unnatural in how quickly she was gone. The entire encounter felt closer to a surprise Pokemon trainer battle than how two normal humans would communicate at school. That would be granting, of course, that either of them were anything close to normal. Hating to admit it, even to himself, Hiccup was just slightly terrified of her. It seemed she liked in that way.

Chicken-legged lout. Somehow, he had never heard that one before.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back at it again with the ableist slurs. I can tell I rushed this when I wrote it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Drops off a really short and bad chapter over a month after last update like nothing happened* I’m sorryyyyyyy I’m in colleeeeeeege

She took her hair out of the scrunchie, shook it back to its usual shape, and sighed, “Tuesdays suck.”

Astrid knelt beside her and opened up her own locker. “At least we’re past Monday.”

Everyone seemed to always say Mondays were the worst, but Merida couldn’t agree less. “ON Mondays I’ve gotten two days to forget this place. By Tuesday I remember how much I hate it, but have to come back again.”

“Well, only six more hours left today, then we’re almost halfway through our third week of a nine month school year.” She started untying her tennis shoes and added, “Oh, and heads up: I think Snotlout likes your socks. Maybe ditch them. He gets creepy.”

She snatched her jeans from the locker. “Whatever. If he tries talking to me, he’ll regret it.”

Astrid smiled, said, “Glad you’re learning”, and pulled her shirt off. Merida had seen her do it close to ten times now, but it still felt a bit weird to be surrounded by a dozen girls carelessly stripping to their underwear (some of them changing their _bras_ ) when she had never needed to change around others her age before. It’s why she wore only baggy shirts now, and kept them on for every other class. Not out of embarrassment, just unfamiliarity. Like every other day, she swapped her shorts for her jeans as quickly as possible, then saw Astrid was wearing a blue dress.

Lacing up her shoes again, Merida asked, “Why do you dress girly like that?”

Astrid looked at her own outfit asking, “Why not?”

“Well, you aren’t that girly.”

“I’m not?”

“In a good way. I don’t like it when girls are whiny and prissy. It’s why I don’t get along with them.”

“You do know most girls aren’t actually like that, right?”

Her tone was beginning to sound a bit less friendly, so Merida stood and replied  a bit more quietly, “Well, I - guess I didn’t know a lot of girls. I’m usually just around my brothers. And now Kevin and Callum.”

“I thought you were friends with Steven too.” _Ugh, MacIntosh_ … The two started for the hallway.

“No, he just annoys me. So cocky. The others have good enough sense to not try flirting.”

Astrid sighed, “That’s the annoying part of being friends with guys. You know Hiccup, imaging _him_ flirting with you.” Merida shuttered for a second, trying _not_ to imagine that.

Astrid must have seen her bringing face. “Not anymore. He knows we’re only friends now.”

“Were you not always just friends?”

“We just kissed a couple times last year, that’s all.”

“Ugh, why?” Merida blurted in recoil. “I mean, he’s just so…”

Astrid nodded in understanding. “I know, he’s a little weird. But he’s nice once you get to know him.” Right. Even if she decided he wasn’t so bad after all, she wouldn’t see why Astrid would kiss him, much less admit it. With a small wave, Astrid disappeared down one of the crowded halls.

Class after boring class, her thoughts kept turning in circles. It was such a small thing, but strange. Everyone seemed to know and like him, and she couldn’t even tell why. Stupid… Arrow… Forest… Skinny idiot… Arrow-

An ending bell rung her out of a trance. When looking at her notebook to see what class she’d ignored so intensely, she found it covered in scribblings so deep in the pages they wrinkled and tore. Every day, she was just getting angrier. Hopefully she’d find a way to not kill anyone around her before at least the semester ended.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *emerges unexpectedly from the dark in a puff of 6-month old dust* Surprise. Bet you thought you saw the last of me.  
> That was the dumbest thing I’ve written this year, but who knows, this chapter might top it.  
> And no, I have no explanation for not writing I’m just a lazy idiot.

“You guys know Merida.”

Those weren’t the words that he was hoping to hear in their usual area, and the personification of fire wasn’t the sight he hoped for either. It’s not like it was a territorial thing, Hiccup just preferred to  _ not _  spend break time with someone that despised him. Behind him, Snotlout approached and jumped right into action.   
“Cool, did you hire her as a hitman or something?” He poked an elbow into Hiccup’s side, like he would laugh at a joke about his own murder.

Astrid leaned over and told Merida, “Sorry, he really doesn’t get much better than that.”   
He wished he could just up and ask why she had brought her here at all, but Astrid was no less decided and stubborn than he was, and it didn’t look like Merida came here on her own will either.

“Well, nice job nailing that chick in the face this morning,” Snotlout said.   
“It was an accident!” Her voice commanded attention, but her mouth shut, and eyes stayed pointed down. Everyone else stopped in motion at her outburst, despite how fleeting their attention usually was.

“Just saying thanks,” Snotlout eased back in and faced the rest of the group to go on, “We were supposed to play volleyball, but she slammed it into the back of some chick’s head, she fell flat on her face, and got such a bad nosebleed that the teacher left and we got open gym the rest of class!” He glanced around to everyone with an excited face, meeting mostly blank ones.

Ruffnut finally nodded with impressed eyes and put her hand up in front of Merida, delivering a fully genuine, “ _ Nice _ .”

Merida seemed caught off guard, and gave something between a slap and and the attention seeking nudge of a cat with her hand. Hiccup felt some relief, unenthusiastic as it was. He knew if he were asking for a high five from her, he would probably do high threes for the rest of his life.

“I still don’t understand why you all took PE as first period.” Fishlegs groaned. “As if it’s not bad enough, first thing in the morning?”

Astrid explained, “We registered late. Everyone that period did. And I am  _ not _  wasting senior year in there.”

“You don’t have to at all, lucky.” Snotlout complained to Hiccup.

“Yeah, thank god for my disability. I keep needing the dumb thing adjusted whenever I get taller.”

“You’re not getting taller. Are you?” Snotlout asked.

“I’ve grown two inches since I first got the leg.”

The others produced various noises of skepticism. Whatever. He had at least caught up to Astrid in height.

“Do you have a false leg?” Merida spoke up. He took a tense glance at her. That was probably the first time she expressed something with non-aggressive interest to him. Before he could say anything, Ruffnut cut in.

“Last year he killed a dragon and it, like, exploded, so his leg fell off.”

“It didn’t _  fall off _ . And I-“

Fishlegs sat up straight to offer a correction before HIccup could. “He and Toothless killed it, then his leg was messed up from the fall and the fire, so they had to amputate it.”

“Sure, that’s…  _m_ _ ore  _ like what happened.” Never mind the fact none of them even saw exactly what happened in the fire that day, Toothless being probably the best witness. Giving up on guiding the conversation, the words mostly just sat in the air around him.   
With just a little enthusiasm, Merida shrugged and mentioned “A bear ripped my dad’s leg off.”

All turned to her, the twins especially intrigued. “We were camping and it came for my mum and I, but then he fought it back.”

“Scotland’s a hell of a location,” Hiccup mumbled to himself.

“Hell of a party!” Tuff called it instead, “I want to fight a bear for my leg!” Merida looked pretty pleased with herself having an interesting story. He found it a bit strange that a story including dragons fighting one another had become old news to everybody else. It didn’t take much effort from her at all to grab their attention, which sent him wondering for a second if she had made this story up just to keep the conversation away from him. A second later, though, the suspicion seemed, even in his own mind, to be ridiculous and full of needless jealousy. As she spoke on about some giant bear, the pinches faded from her face, the bite of her words softened up, and came easy as thought they were already good friends of hers. Was she actually… not angry?

 

Before today, he wouldn’t have tried talking to her in class. Mostly, he just tried to see the front of the room past her hair. Now it was a matter of finding what to say to her, just to see if he could at least reduce her anger a bit more.

“Hey, Merida?”

She turned around, saying nothing, but looking like he was doing something stupid. He realized at this point he probably was, but it was too late to back out now.

“So… You said your dad hunted bears after that… thing that happened.” He left space for a response, but all she did was blink. “Did he bowhunt too, or… I mean, it seems like it would be difficult to hunt bears with just arrows, but…”

“I thought we were leaving each other alone.” Her words came back full of the same rough edges as days ago. The friendly tone everyone else had earned clearly hadn’t opened up for him, and it seemed likely that wasn’t going to change.

“We were all just hanging out together. I thought that meant-”

“We’re not friends just because I heard you’re missing a limb.” She turned her face and attention to the iPod she pulled out.

“It’s below the knee. So, more like a half limb…” Before he finished two words, tinny noise humed out from her headphones, and he knew she wouldn’t have heard a thing from him. It was at least satisfying to finish saying what he had intended to, for once. Astrid was definitely wrong about how personal her treatment was. In the end, though, it didn’t really matter. So, somebody unnecessarily ignored his entire existence, nothing new. She wasn’t worth talking to anyway. He had enough careless, irrational, and short-tempered friends, he didn’t need to make another that also owned and operated projectile weapons.

Accepting her silence, he opened his binder and instantly realized something was missing. It was lighter, emptier…  _ The notebook _ . All of the dragon’s drawings and notes. It was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t realize I spent the first six chapters on the same characters! I guess it’s because Hiccup is my easiest POV character. The next one is about Rapunzel, don’t worry. And hey, 2014 me, you probably weren't writing because we're insecure and have a short attention span.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lo and behold, more than two characters exist. Unfortunately, so does laziness. And the fact I’m not really a writer. You know what i’m not even going to bother with self deprecation, I have portfolios to arrange and sleep to get screw tHIS CRAP

Two strangers stood in her new living room, among the two others she hardly knew any better. They were all family, but only since July, really. There was still so much to get used to, but her parents’ kindness had helped the transition to go along surprisingly smoothly. Approaching everyone, Rapunzel hoped the kindness ran in their family.

“Nice to finally meet you,” she chimed to the boy, and offered her hand to shake. “Hiccup, right?” He seemed surprised by this and awkwardly reciprocated. “Uh… yeah, hi.”

Weird. That was too weird to be right.  _ Do people shake hands with family? _ It didn’t really matter, though, she realized. He had no more cousin experience than she did. Turning to Stoick, she started, “And… long time no see, right?” She tried to laugh, and he faintly smiled when he replied, “You were practically a baby last time I saw you.”

“I wish I could remember.” Then, feeling the emptiness in the air again, “Should I call you uncle, or Stoick, or…?”

“Stoick is fine.”

She turned to the younger stranger again. Sometimes she still forgot, but her hair was brown too. There had to be some other similarity, something. “Oh, Hiccup! I just remembered, uh - come on, I’ll show you.” Still he said nothing, but she walked toward the hallway until he began to follow. The room she’d moved into apparently used to be hers, though she couldn’t really find any memories of it. It was all so different now, leading a enw person to a new room in a new house, opening her new door… “I heard you have a way with dragons.” She picked her pet off of the bedpost they were climbing. “Pascal is no great, winged beast, but he is a reptile, so…”

“Huh. I’ve never held a chameleon before.” Pascal perched on Hiccup’s arm clutching at his jacket with multicolored legs.

“He’s very friendly. As long as you’re friendly to him, anyway.” Leaving the two staring at one another, she snatched at a shoebox under the bed frame, finding the tiny outfits she’d sewn for the lizard over the years. Poor Pascal had truly suffered, she realized, picking up a particularly frilly one to show Hiccup.

“This,” she felt laughter bubbling up, “ _ this _ is how bored I used to get!” For the first time, it looked like he was actually smiling. Just barely, but it seemed genuine before it faded away.

Hiccup stared at Pascal, leaving her unsure if it was out of interest or to avoid eye contact with her. “I guess you were alone a lot, huh?”

“Oh, at least I had a good friend to keep me company!” Her bright smile was, again, only met by a hesitant one. He really needed prodding to speak. “Okay, you’ve met the weirdo. And the lizard,” she joked. “I don’t know anything about you yet.”

His voice stayed low with uncertainty. “Well, you know the dragon thing. And…” His eyes dragged across the room, finding nowhere comfortable to rest. “And that I don’t know what kind of conversation to make right now.”

“Just tell me about your friends.”

“Friends. As in the um…” He watched Pascal again, who was now climbing away over her bed.

“The human ones.”

He nodded once. “Right. Well, there’s Astrid and Fishlegs, I go to school with them-”

“Fishlegs?” Barely two sentences in, she found herself interrupting.

“It’s a nickname Snotlout made up for him.” That certainly wasn’t a helpful sentence. After a pause, he explained, “And Snotlout is a nickname that was meant to get back at him, but he reclaimed it instead. As you can probably tell, we’re all very sofisticated.”

“I shouldn’t think those names are weird anyway. I’m named after lettuce.”

A gap of silence came before his reply with a black stare. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. There’s a certain type that’s called Rapunzel in German. MY dad said he made soup from it when my mom got sick. I guess it’s sweet, but still kind of-” Realizing her interruption again, he shook her head, “Sorry, forget about it. What about your name? Is that a nickname?”

His eyes drifted away as he sighed, “No, no, unfortunately, that’s actually on my birth certificate.

“So, how did you get it?”

His hesitation made her start hoping she hadn’t embarrassed him, but he then answered, “It’s just what my dad’s family names you when they have a kid that’s born early. I”m actually the third in the family to be named after a bodily function.”

She tried to laugh, although it seemed out of place. That sense kept coming over her more and more often. Here they were, meeting one another for the first time in almost fifteen years, the first time since they were practically babies, and it begged the question of how easy it could have to speak to one another if the time hadn’t been torn apart. Now they barely knew who they were to each other, while she was still trying to figure out who she was herself.

“Do these glow?” HIccup looked around and pointed at the room’s ceiling, which was covered in dozens of stars. “In the dark, I mean. The stars?”

“Yeah, um, I always had them in my… room.” Although ‘my room’ wasn’t quite appropriate, she didn’t want to call the place she used to live a prison, either. There  _ was _ still hope for a lighthearted conversation. “They used to be charted into constellations and everything, but I haven’t fixed that up again yet.”

As soon as she mentioned the constellations, he faced her again. Hushed, but clear, he spoke, “I did that same thing.” The lost look on his face was gone, not excited, and he moved his arms around in strange gestures. “They weren’t perfectly laid out, sure, but I put together my favorite constellations on my walls when I was little.” He waved, sort of offhand, and quipped, “Littler.”

She actually did laugh now, that was an odd thing. Not the joke, but how quickly he animated at these stars nobody else had asked about. She was allowed to collect them from… the room, and Eugene offered to help her arrange them when she had the time, but nobody was so interested.

“So, you like stars too.” She smiled, and got an eager nod back from him. Only then did she notice the green eyes they shared as well.

“Why were they on your wall, though?”

“Oh, I wanted to put them up myself. And being little doesn’t make it easy to reach the ceiling. Rapunzel had fixed this problem by climbing with chairs, shelves, and her own hair, but she figured HIccup was probably more supervised and better groomed that the wild child she was.

“You know, Toothless always loves new people.” Hiccup shrugged, looking back at her again. “You’ll have to meet him sometime.”

This could all be a start. Her tiny family was growing a bit, and she was glad for who was in it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lo and behold, more than two characters exist. Unfortunately, so does laziness. And the fact I’m not really a writer. You know what i’m not even going to bother with self deprecation, I have portfolios to arrange and sleep to get screw tHIS CRAP

Two strangers stood in her new living room, among the two others she hardly knew any better. They were all family, but only since July, really. There was still so much to get used to, but her parents’ kindness had helped the transition to go along surprisingly smoothly. Approaching everyone, Rapunzel hoped the kindness ran in their family.

“Nice to finally meet you,” she chimed to the boy, and offered her hand to shake. “Hiccup, right?” He seemed surprised by this and awkwardly reciprocated. “Uh… yeah, hi.”

Weird. That was too weird to be right. _Do people shake hands with family?_ It didn’t really matter, though, she realized. He had no more cousin experience than she did. Turning to Stoick, she started, “And… long time no see, right?” She tried to laugh, and he faintly smiled when he replied, “You were practically a baby last time I saw you.”

“I wish I could remember.” Then, feeling the emptiness in the air again, “Should I call you uncle, or Stoick, or…?”

“Stoick is fine.”

She turned to the younger stranger again. Sometimes she still forgot, but her hair was brown too. There had to be some other similarity, something. “Oh, Hiccup! I just remembered, uh - come on, I’ll show you.” Still he said nothing, but she walked toward the hallway until he began to follow. The room she’d moved into apparently used to be hers, though she couldn’t really find any memories of it. It was all so different now, leading a enw person to a new room in a new house, opening her new door… “I heard you have a way with dragons.” She picked her pet off of the bedpost they were climbing. “Pascal is no great, winged beast, but he is a reptile, so…”

“Huh. I’ve never held a chameleon before.” Pascal perched on Hiccup’s arm clutching at his jacket with multicolored legs.

“He’s very friendly. As long as you’re friendly to him, anyway.” Leaving the two staring at one another, she snatched at a shoebox under the bed frame, finding the tiny outfits she’d sewn for the lizard over the years. Poor Pascal had truly suffered, she realized, picking up a particularly frilly one to show Hiccup.

“This,” she felt laughter bubbling up, “ _this_ is how bored I used to get!” For the first time, it looked like he was actually smiling. Just barely, but it seemed genuine before it faded away.

Hiccup stared at Pascal, leaving her unsure if it was out of interest or to avoid eye contact with her. “I guess you were alone a lot, huh?”

“Oh, at least I had a good friend to keep me company!” Her bright smile was, again, only met by a hesitant one. He really needed prodding to speak. “Okay, you’ve met the weirdo. And the lizard,” she joked. “I don’t know anything about you yet.”

His voice stayed low with uncertainty. “Well, you know the dragon thing. And…” His eyes dragged across the room, finding nowhere comfortable to rest. “And that I don’t know what kind of conversation to make right now.”

“Just tell me about your friends.”

“Friends. As in the um…” He watched Pascal again, who was now climbing away over her bed.

“The human ones.”

He nodded once. “Right. Well, there’s Astrid and Fishlegs, I go to school with them-”

“Fishlegs?” Barely two sentences in, she found herself interrupting.

“It’s a nickname Snotlout made up for him.” That certainly wasn’t a helpful sentence. After a pause, he explained, “And Snotlout is a nickname that was meant to get back at him, but he reclaimed it instead. As you can probably tell, we’re all very sofisticated.”

“I shouldn’t think those names are weird anyway. I’m named after lettuce.”

A gap of silence came before his reply with a black stare. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. There’s a certain type that’s called Rapunzel in German. MY dad said he made soup from it when my mom got sick. I guess it’s sweet, but still kind of-” Realizing her interruption again, he shook her head, “Sorry, forget about it. What about your name? Is that a nickname?”

His eyes drifted away as he sighed, “No, no, unfortunately, that’s actually on my birth certificate.

“So, how did you get it?”

His hesitation made her start hoping she hadn’t embarrassed him, but he then answered, “It’s just what my dad’s family names you when they have a kid that’s born early. I”m actually the third in the family to be named after a bodily function.”

She tried to laugh, although it seemed out of place. That sense kept coming over her more and more often. Here they were, meeting one another for the first time in almost fifteen years, the first time since they were practically babies, and it begged the question of how easy it could have to speak to one another if the time hadn’t been torn apart. Now they barely knew who they were to each other, while she was still trying to figure out who she was herself.

“Do these glow?” HIccup looked around and pointed at the room’s ceiling, which was covered in dozens of stars. “In the dark, I mean. The stars?”

“Yeah, um, I always had them in my… room.” Although ‘my room’ wasn’t quite appropriate, she didn’t want to call the place she used to live a prison, either. There _was_ still hope for a lighthearted conversation. “They used to be charted into constellations and everything, but I haven’t fixed that up again yet.”

As soon as she mentioned the constellations, he faced her again. Hushed, but clear, he spoke, “I did that same thing.” The lost look on his face was gone, not excited, and he moved his arms around in strange gestures. “They weren’t perfectly laid out, sure, but I put together my favorite constellations on my walls when I was little.” He waved, sort of offhand, and quipped, “Littler.”

She actually did laugh now, that was an odd thing. Not the joke, but how quickly he animated at these stars nobody else had asked about. She was allowed to collect them from… the room, and Eugene offered to help her arrange them when she had the time, but nobody was so interested.

“So, you like stars too.” She smiled, and got an eager nod back from him. Only then did she notice the green eyes they shared as well.

“Why were they on your wall, though?”

“Oh, I wanted to put them up myself. And being little doesn’t make it easy to reach the ceiling. Rapunzel had fixed this problem by climbing with chairs, shelves, and her own hair, but she figured HIccup was probably more supervised and better groomed that the wild child she was.

“You know, Toothless always loves new people.” Hiccup shrugged, looking back at her again. “You’ll have to meet him sometime.”

This could all be a start. Her tiny family was growing a bit, and she was glad for who was in it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize this was only a draft! This is chapter 8.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what’s up I have a hundred things to work on but this is the least important towards my education, which is why I worked on it.  
> I honestly don’t even know if Jack is in character because i watched that movie like one time about two years ago and completely changed his character and all of the guardians because hell no I’m not writing “spirits” or whatever they’re just mortal people with weird powers now and I tried to be funny but mostly I am tired and this got way longer than planned  
> i am a loser  
> gun

They didn’t go to school together anymore, but Jack was the one friend he had outside of the “dragon training” group, and the only one at all before they came around to him. Jack never acted like he even noticed that HIccup wasn’t well received by everyone else. As far as he was concerned, they were social equals. Just in case he actually couldn’t tell, Hiccup didn’t mention to Jack that he was the only one that ever talked to him back then. By now, each of their lives had been adjusted beyond the worries of social convention. Life is only kept getting stranger for both of them.

“Okay, so… what was she like?” Jack asked him, a bit confused to hear about Rapunzel.

Hiccup sat on Jack’s bed, staring at his schoolbag in his lap. “Well, she was… nice…” Though a lousy descriptor, it was the most suitable one he could think of. “She smiled a lot. And she has a pet chameleon named Pascal, that was pretty cool.”

Jack shook him by the shoulder a bit. “Hey, let’s focus on the human.”

“Well, I was a bit distracted, if you can believe it. She was talking a lot to me, but I didn’t really know what to say to her. ‘Sorry I don’t remember you from when I was two’?”

“She probably felt weird too. Neither of you really have much experience with relatives.” Jack’s ‘family’ situation had certainly evolved since they had first met, but was never just him with one parent in an otherwise empty house. It was true, even a single half-cousin brought more familial closeness than he was used to.

“Yeah, and we’re kind of missing a link, too.” Jack waited for an explanation. “I think part of the reason we didn’t talk much to my aunt and uncle for so long was that my dad felt odd about… well, Prim being my mom’s sister. Now we all have to acknowledge that again.”

“Does Rapple- or, Rehhh… you know, _ your cousin _ , does she know what happened?”

“I assume they told  _ Rapunzel _ , yes. She already knew about the dragon-hunting debacle and my leg, so she probably got quite the history lesson.”

“Quite the everything lesson, I’d guess,” Jack remarked, “I’m surprised she was talkative with you, that kind of isolation can screw people up.” He stood up. “Do you realise she went 14 years without any dudes around? If I went until now without meeting a girl, I’d see one and be like, ‘What’s that? What are those things they have? Why do I want to touch them?’”

Hiccup stopped his laughter with a raised hand. “Please, just don’t. Anyways, she’s seen other people before, she just couldn’t go out and talk to them.”

“Tooth says I’m the first guyfriend she’s had, even though she wasn’t locked up, and I think she’s still getting used to me.”

Hiccup laughed a bit at that. “Who doesn’t have to get used to you? You’re a walking snow cone machine. Wait, I can’t remember. Don’t you have - have a…” He lowered his voice and gestured vaguely, “Some sort of a… thing? With Tooth?”

“What? No, she’s cute and all, but she’s kind of like a sister to me.” Although he shook his head and added, “I mean, not like a  _ real _ sister. Like a step-sister, so it’s not weird.”

Hiccup drew his eyebrows together and glanced back in unease. “I’m pretty sure thinking sisters of any kind are cute is a little weird. Unless you mean cute as in, ‘oh, cute little puppies’, which I'm sure you don’t.”

“It’s fine if you meet when you’re basically adults and aren’t blood related,” Jack argued, “We live together and we’re close friends, that’s all that makes it sisterly.”   
Hiccup replied but continued staring at the walls. “You have to pick a side; friend, girlfriend, or sister. Very different things.”

“Of course, you’re the expert. You’ve never had sisters or girlfriends. I mean, unless…” He tilted his head at Hiccup.   
“Astrid was never my girlfriend,” he answered immediately.   
“Right, so you’ve only had friends. And most of yours are wild animals.”

“Like the one I’m talking to.”

Jack smiled back, not at all offended. “Exactly.”

“Blonde, pompous, and vaguely incestuous. If you paid back the money you owed people, you could be a Lannister.”

“First of all, “ he moved his hand about to display his head. “I’m  _ platinum _ blonde.” Hiccup turned his head, exasperated, with his eyes shut to shield him from Jack’s theatricality.

“And I would say that guy was a little more than ‘vaguely’ incestuous. By the way, never letting you convince me to watch a show ever again.”

“You wanted to watch it.”

Jack’s calm face turned bitter, and he spoke as if betrayed. “You said there would be boobs.”

“Well, there were! Lots of boobs!” Hiccup had thought that would be the best way to get Jack to try watching it. It was no less true, though.   
Jack was paying attention to something else. Hiccup followed his eyes across his own shoulder to find that Bunnymund had opened the door behind his back. His long ears angled back and matched the slight scowl on his face.

“I was talking about a show-” Hiccup started to explain, struck with sudden embarrassment, but Bunny’s eyes flicked to Jack uninterested.

“Do you know where Sandy is?”

Jack replied, “Uh, I think I saw him this morning. I haven’t really kept track.”

Bunny sighed as he left the doorway, “Brilliant.”

Hiccup felt heat rush into his face and turned back around to Jack. “Great, so… that made me sound like a total creep.”

Jack snickered at his nervousness. “So what?”

“He’s kind of like a parent, right? It sounded like I was reviewing a porno just now, is that not awkward?”

“He’s more like a morally questionable Australian rabbit uncle that nobody knows enough about, but he does the dishes so you just keep him around and don’t ask questions.” Being said in one casual breath almost made is sound like a rational sentence.

“Yeah… See, I don’t know the social protocol that comes with that.”   
Gazing into an imaginary distance, Jack looked to be thinking. “But really, you have to admit it is… kind of porn. Just with an unusually developed plot.”

“What porn involves decapitation?”

“Is that a rhetorical question, or would you like a notarized list?”   
“Rhetorical.”

“Kidding.”   
Hiccup looked back down to the backpack, remembering his missing notebook. It had been days since he realized it was gone.

“I didn’t leave a notebook here by any chance, did I? Um… the little brown one?”

Jack spread his arms wide, surrendering to the state of disarray his room was in. Flatly he asked, “Does it really look like I would know?”

Hiccup sank back against the wall. “Yeah, nevermind.” Though the observations he’d written in it weren’t of the utmost scientific superiority, it was stressful to lose it all so quickly. The very first notes made of Toothless were there, and the prototype designs of the replacement tail. “I just don’t understand what could’ve happened to it, it’s not at home, it’s not at school, I didn’t take it out of my bag for anything…”

“Maybe you were mugged by someone that loves stationery and you can’t remember it.” Jack suggested.   
Sitting up, Hiccup realized, “You’re probably right.”

“Wait, what?”

“Merida took it from me! Why didn’t I figure that out sooner? Of course she did!” 

“Hold on. Who is this? Who allegedly stole your dragon diary?”

He nearly forgot he’d been talking to Jack. “Just… some girl that hates me.”

“Could you be a little more specific?”   
How to summarize the chaos that had infiltrated his life? “Long story short, her family just moved here, our dads don’t get along, and if he’s anything like her, I can see why.”

“Oh, she’s like your enemy in a family rivalry thing. That’s kinda cute.”

“If by ‘cute’ you mean a belligerent, cutthroat, flaming ball of hatred, she’s adorable.”

“They aren’t mutually exclusive. How did you meet your nemesis?”   
“Another long story short, she almost shot me?”

“She was going to  _ shoot  _ you? She has a gun?”

“A bow, actually,” Hiccup answered, though the arrows seemed more frightening to him than bullets. “But that was just an accident. I tried to tell her it wasn’t safe, came off to her as ‘whiny’, our dads got involved, and…” He sighed tiredly, “it’s all downhill from there.”

“You could’ve said sorry, I guess.”

“I actually _ did _ apologize for getting in the way of her haphazard murder darts.” Jack smirked like Hiccup was kidding. “I seriously did. Because she actually scares me that much.”

Jack leaned back, questioning. “Is she just… tall or something?”

He shook his head. “She’s shorter than me. Maybe it’s her hair. Maybe it’s like the effect of a lion mane, you know, makes her look bigger, more intimidating. It’s pretty hard to ignore a bright orange lion’s mane.” There was something about red curls now that made the world jolt a bit, in the worst way, like the sound of a fire alarm or a car’s metal crunching together in a collision.

Jack spoke in a critical tone, “So, the girl harassing you is also a short ginger…”

Hiccup, annoyed now, spoke louder. “Yes, Jack. Could I reclaim my dignity if I dated my adoptive sister? Should I try that?”

“Up on the roof again,” Bunny’s voice shot in Hiccup’s ears and brought the panic back.   
“Uh, that was a - ”

“Don’t need to know.” He only looked at Jack. “God only knows how he gets up there. You seriously didn’t see him?”

Jack smiled at a slant. “See, I might’ve noticed that _ if  _ I had gone outside today.”

“I… don’t even have a sister - “ Hiccup’s voice trailed off as Bunny closed the door behind himself without a sign of listening. He dropped his head into his hands. “Why did I even come here?” 

Hiccup rechecked if anything else was missing from his school bag. Merida couldn’t have known that notebook was particularly important, could she? Maybe she just grabbed something at random, just to send a message/ Or, like Jack, she had thought it was a “diary” with some sort of embarrassing information. Neither really made much sense, as she didn’t seem to be the scheming type. Knowing she could be flipping through his personal notes or sketches still was an uncomfortable experience, though. They really weren’t created for the public eye, especially not _ hers _ . Jack watched, spinning left and right in the chair.

“You’re really starting to seem paranoid now.”

HIccup stopped a moment to look back at him. “You would be too. I’ve never met someone so aggressive in my life.”

“Then just act a little more lie her.”

“Are you suggesting I start threatening her? You really think that would be effective, or even possible?”

Jack scoffed, “Woah, incite a resolution, not a riot.” He stopped spinning and leaned closer to Hiccup. “Just tell her, ‘Hey, I’d like my nerdy shit back now.’ She’ll probably get bored of you and give it up.”

That only left Hiccup wondering if he would rather attempt confronting her or just let her keep the notes. Both were equally nauseating to imagine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tahdah, the guardians are finally here.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My laptop killed itself :)

The house was still and empty as he woke to the familiar sound of rain pattering on the roof, and a dragon breathing warm air onto his face. His father had probably been out attending to business for hours by then, none of this uncommon in their routine. No sooner than he was dressed did Jack call. Attempting to indicate that it was far too early for a conversation, or for Jack to even be conscious, he answered, “It’s… morning.”

“Do you undersell everyone you talk about? Am I getting lousy reviews from you too?”

Rubbing the sleep out of his face, Hiccup answered, “Either you’re making no sense or I’m not awake enough to talk right now.”

“Tooth brought a friend called Rapunzel home yesterday.”

“Congratulations, you’ve pronounced her name correctly.”

“And she came over to your place last night?” Jack knowing about a casual family gathering without him ever mentioning it felt oddly intrusive. It made him wish Rapunzel wasn’t as open, honest, and chatty as she was.

“Yeah, uh, she met Toothless and Gobber, and we all had dinner. She seems to have a high threshold for bizarreness, I think she already regards Gobber as another uncle.”

“Yeah, Gobber’s like another mom to you, everyone knows that. I just didn’t expect someone like…  _ her  _ to be related to you.” Toothless pawed at the door, growling his desire to be let out. On the other side, the living room was glazed in gray morning light.

“Like what?”

“I mean, she does seem like you. It’s kind of weird to think of now. The same hair and nervous giggles. But she’s a girl, and… actually very pretty.” A budding headache struck between his heavy, frowning eyes.

“Excuse me?”

“Okay, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that, you’re pretty too.”

He cut in, “Don’t call her pretty. Or me.”

“You didn’t mention her being powered.”   
“What, is that what you find so interesting?”

Toothless’ head tilted, as though he were carefully thinking, and trotted towards the front window. Normally he’d beg for breakfast, but Hiccup watched and let him be, trying to stretch a sore shoulder. “You know her powers are gone now, right?”   
“What I find interesting is that you didn’t tell me.”

If Jack knew he didn’t tell him about the healing hair on purpose, Hiccup wouldn’t know how to explain it. There was already too large a path to pave with her before taking that delicate subject into account, and although Jack was entirely in his right to be excited to meet someone else like him, Hiccup didn’t want to be a bridge for his best friend to walk across to her.

“It didn’t come to mind. You were distracting me with gross jokes.”

“We both do gross jokes. That’s what we do.”

“I respond to them out of acceptance that it’s your main form of communication.”

Behind the shutters, Toothless scratched at the window, suggesting that a bird or squirrel was playing outside. Then, Hiccup heard a dull thud and light scuffle from the other side of the front door, and he realized it couldn’t be such a small creature. “Something’s on the porch…” he mumbled, just to himself.

Opening the door, his eyes glanced from the blank area in front of his face down to somebody toppled on the rain-soaked porch. Their hand pulled the hood and puffy red hair from their face. From the forgotten phone in his hand, he scarcely heard a tinny question, “Did you say something about a Porsche?”

He abandoned Jack’s call and looked down at Merida in confusion, stammering, “What - what are you…?”

Noticing him for the first time, Merida sprang up to her feet, nearly slipping again. “Shut it,” she said, and slammed something into his chest so that he barely caught it. “I wasn’t here.” Then she was off.

As if the exchange wasn’t odd enough, he noticed it was the missing journal in his arms. Cool drops chilled his head and bare foot when he followed.

“And you’re giving this back to me  _ why _ ?”

She turned halfway around and shook her head, nearly across the yard. “Cause it’s yours, stupid.”

“Why take it in the first place, then?”

“You think I stole it off you?” she scoffed, “Why would I go through the trouble for that junk?”

“You’re going through the trouble of bringing it to my house in the rain on a Saturday.”

“I was hoping I’d just stick it in the letter box without having to see your face again, but seems I was mistaken.”

From behind him, Toothless noticed a new voice and hurtled out of the doorway. Hiccup jumped out into the grass and pushed him back inside, urging him to stay put.

“He’s missing a tailfin. Isn’t he?” Merida noticed. “You match. Cute.” Her tone indicated that she did not, in fact, find this cute.

“I think the word you’re looking for is coincidental.”   
From a crooked smile came her flippant reply, “Think the word you’re looking for is ‘thanks’.”

In a voice quiet, yet heavy with contempt, he offered, “Thanks for the notebook. Thanks a lot.”

“And you should try not to drag your hand over your writing. Ts’a leftie thing, I know, but it makes it pretty hard to read.” Her grin sent him reeling to shut the door behind him as quickly as possible.

Distraught already, on an otherwise fairly peaceful morning, he grumbled all the way back to his room and threw the now tainted notebook onto the bed. Toothless resisted checking out the new scent and stood beside his friend, cautious and gentle around the newfound tension. Outstretching a hand to stroke his head, and another to wildly gesture to the empty room, Hiccup muttered, “I knew she took it. I knew it! And I knew she read it too, I told you that.” The dragon cooed in compassionate reply. The air seemed to cool, they sat upon the bed, and Hiccup returned to groggy confusion. “Should I write down her stats in here too, bud? No known fangs, talons, or venom, but raging nonetheless.” He flipped through the notebook, still muttering, “I’ll just stick her in… Mystery class. Because, well, who knows what her problem is?”

At least a dragon could be reasoned with, understood, tamed. Where there was no fight before, she found one. The very worst part is that he still fell right into the same trap. He sighed once more and added, “Favored tactic: run victims into a fit of insanity…”

Another call rang from his pocket. Suddenly remembering the conversation from just minutes before, he tried to answer. Instead of a call back from Jack, an 8:15 alarm told him that absurdity never sleeps.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live. I also don’t know anything about cars and honestly hate them. I felt like I should include a special somebody else in this mishmash universe.

When she had invited Merida to walk home with them, she forgot that Hiccup was standing next to her. Merida didn’t respond immediately, but then walked beside Astrid, and they started on their way. That feud had to have begun to bore her too, Astrid guessed. It was baseless, only burning on because somebody always threw more kindling on a tiny spark. At the very least, Merida knew that staying behind to avoid somebody that lived on the same street as her was petty to the point of absurdity and didn’t opt to stand around in the parking lot for 20 minutes. Thus, she walked on Astrid’s right, opposite him.

“I might not see you tomorrow morning,” Merida told her as they crossed a street. “I think I’ll skip gym.”

“What for? You’re only going to get yourself into more trouble.” Merida’s lack of obedience skills bothered her, but she knew it would be no use trying to talk her out of it. She’d tried enough.

“To spare some suffering. I want this awful volleyball unit to be over already. I’d rather just be running the whole hour.”

“It’s not that bad. Volleyball is one of the better sports we get to play in class.”  
“It’s the worst.”

“You only think so because you haven't’ learned how to serve.”  
“I cannae serve!” Merida’s hands clenched into fists at the very mention of the word. “It’s damn near impossible if you’re not two meters.”

“I’m five foot five!”

“Good on you,” Merida gestured to the left, “I’m barely taller than him.”

Hiccup almost laughed. “You’re not taller than me.”  
“I think I am.”  
He peered around Astrid at her. “Your hair doesn’t count.”

Astrid prepared for another pointless argument.

A horn blared behind them, causing Hiccup to flinch and Merida to curse. Astrid turned around with tense shoulders, ready to shout, but instead smiled when she saw who was at the wheel. It was Heather that had startled them with a troublesome smirk.

Astrid stepped over to her, too excited to conceal it. “Oh my god! What are _you_ doing here?”

“Cruising around,” she answered. “We moved close to the falls, and I thought I might run into you here.”

Hiccup followed on her left. “Is this car _yours_ ?” he asked. It was silver, not extravagant, but well worth a second glance. Its simple yet streamlined frame said _fast_ , and Heather at its wheel said _faster_. It both excited Astrid and made her a bit worried for Heather’s driving record.

“You should have seen it before I got my hands on it. Practically junk. But I had it done by the time I got my license.”

Astrid realized Merida was still behind them, looking uncharacteristically stiff, and tried not to show that she had forgotten her. She pulled Merida closer by the arm and told her, “This is our old friend Heather.”

Merida didn’t say anything. Before acknowledging her, Heather chided Astrid, “Have I really been gone long enough to be called an ‘old friend’?”

It really had only been a few months, and they kept in touch at that. Introducing Merida to someone so familiar feld odd and unreal without thinking of them as somebody of the past, but Merida countered without a beat, “Old enough that _I’ve_ never heard of you.”

A beat of silence passed before Astrid made herself laugh, mainly to tell everybody that wasn’t a threat, but also out of secondhand embarrassment as her new friend put her foot into her mouth, yet again. Not an hour went by that she didn’t. When Heather’s surprised expression fell back into a smile, the situation was in the clear. “I like you.”  
Hiccup mumbled, “Who doesn’t?” to himself, accidentally clear enough for Astrid to hear. Merida, though, smiled back when asked for her name.

Once Heather parked and left her car to walk with them, there was a second, blessed buffer between Astrid’s equally short, yet inharmonious friends. Heather explained how long she’d been waiting to finish moving and see them. “I have my own dragon now, you know,” she mentioned, “and I think Stormfly and Windshear would get along pretty well.” When she started on how they had met, the group reached Astrid’s home.

“I think Stormfly will be excited just to see you,” Astrid replied.

On their way up the walk, Hiccup followed them and asked, “Is it cool if I come with?”

He was going to keep talking, but Astrid answered with hardly a thought, “Yeah, sure.”

She waved to Merida, who simply looked back before continuing on her way home. Astrid shut the door behind her and was immediately paid an apology by Hiccup.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to invite myself, but I just can’t walk alone with her.”

Astrid groaned, “God, Hiccup, are you serious? It wouldn’t kill you.” She had to remember how sensitive he was, though, or else this would be downright childish behaviour in her eyes. “Look, I’d have invited you anyways, but you have to get over this thing.” He nodded, knowing she was right, but she still wouldn’t expect any big change soon.

“There’s a ‘thing’?” Heather smirked in interest. “A thing for Merida?”

“A thing _against_ her,” he corrected, unamused.

“A fear of her, really,” Astrid concluded.

“I’m not scared of her. I’m… cautious.”

“The guy that lost his foot climbing a burning tree to save his dragon _would_ be cautious of an cool girl,” Heather said, laughing at him.

“Toothless was my friend”, Hiccup affirmed. He pointed toward the street. “ _She_ is not. She isn’t just some girl, either, she’s…” He grimaced. “ _Her_.”

Heather could tell now he was serious. “Huh, you really hate her. What did she do?”

“She missed,” Astrid curtly answered for him.

“Missed what?”

“My head,” he mumbled.

Astrid took the answer back. “Her shot. She was practicing archery, missed a shot, and the arrow scared him.

“You weren’t there. Only she and I were. That makes my word as good as hers.”

“That’s it?” Heather asked.

“That,” he dramaticized, “was only the beginning.”

Just as she felt she couldn’t stand hearing any more about it, Astrid noticed the amused look in Heather’s eye and let him go on into his story. It was every bit as inaccurate as sh wa sure Merida’s version was as well, though they both probably believed she had picked the other’s side. Weeks after the fact, none of it seemed of the least importance anymore.

“Why start an argument in the first place?” Heather asked.

“You can’t bring a machete into a library, you can’t whip out throwing stars in math class.” He enunciated his final point, “You cannot fire an arrow in undesignated woods.”  
“And everything since, up to and including refusing to walk next to her for 200 feet, is result of an argument over bow control,” Astrid summarized in annoyance.

“More importantly,” she continued, focusing on Heather again, “Tell me more about this dragon.”

Photos showed that Windshear was just as fierce as her own, well trained dragon. Her scaled appeared like glimmering silver steel (“That may or may not be why I chose that color for the car,” Heather said), her eyes glowed green, and she was said to be as playful as she was skilled. Secretly, they both knew that Sharp class dragons were superior. Mentioning that to any of their friends could incite a riot.

Everytime she was with Heather, Astrid felt she had become more fascinating and felt a bit jealous of anyone that got to see her every day, not just whenever a visit was convenient. Often she wondered if or when their paths would cross again. It would be enough, she conceded, to at least stay distant friends with her. It just never felt like enough. Soon, though, Stormfly would meet a new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a long break, but I have a lot more to post coming up.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This week is two years since I first posted this fic. It’s been slow-going, but I want to really pick up, so I’m writing more often than ever before. This one is very short, but I wanted to provide some development and analysis on Rapunzel to give others a break. I plan on posting a (much longer and plot-relevant) chapter later this week, so please check back! As I always intend but rarely say, thanks for reading.

It took very little time to notice that most people over 18 were moving away from their parents, attending higher education, or at least working. Even though she was free to roam as she pleased, the sense of childish dependency felt dreadful. She didn’t feel trapped, but rather.... Useless. Amid the celebration, joyful tears, and about 15 years worth of stories, Rapunzel watched her parents alter each bit of their everyday lives around their new arrival. Touching as it was, the fuss must have caused extra stress, and they weren’t as young as they once were. 

So, she was weeding. Sun on the skin healed what her hair never could, and she would not be idle. This had to be her favorite chore, because it was so new. Soft, cool earth ran between her fingers when reaching for tough roots and settled around her nail beds. That was not to be desired and could be solved by wearing gloves, she knew, but the fascinating sensation was too much to give up. Besides, she never loved the way her hands looked more than when they had been dusted in soil. She smiled down at them.

“You’ve been out here all day, haven’t you?” Her mother’s voice drifted from behind her, bringing with it a gentle breeze. 

Rapunzel turned to smile at her. “Hardly. I was cleaning the kitchen just an hour ago.” And that was only after sweeping, cleaning her own room again, and some polishing.

“That was before the day had even started, early bird.” She knelt beside her and observed, “So you’re the reason I never have any housework to do anymore.”   
“I’m just…” She nearly slipped up and said, “used to it,” but knew that what she was used to was no good. “Doing my own part,” Rapunzel said, resuming her work. “You’ve had plenty extra to deal with since I showed up.”

“Showed up?” Her mother laughed. “This is your home.”

“You teach me, give me food and clothes… You guys give me so much that I don’t know how to... to give back.” She finished with a weak smile.   
“That’s what parents are supposed to do, Rapunzel.”   
Rapunzel tried not to show how little she knew about how parents were supposed to be. All that she really knew was that she  _ wasn’t _ used to it yet.

“I know, I just don’t want to cause a fuss every time you see me.”   
Sweet as ever, but stronger than usual, her mother told her, “Dear, you should know we’ve been waiting to see you for a very long time. Not a moment that you’re here makes life harder. It’s all that we could have dreamed for and more.”

Her hands stopped and returned from under the dirt. What could she say? Could that even be true? How could someone she never got to know have loved her enough to want to give her everything? Rapunzel looked to her mother’s eyes, the green matching her own. Whenever she forgot who her real family was, that was usually all it took to remember.

“Rapunzel,” her mother reminded her, taking her dirty hands into soothing ones, “You don’t have to give us anything. You’re all we wanted."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a pure fluff chapter and I've never regretted it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This… wasn’t exactly how I thought this scene would work out… With an argument over the Virgin Mary’s virginity… yet here we are. I definitely didn’t put this off until the last minute like everything else I do or anything. This is still probably the most I’ve posted her in just one month, anyways.

Outside, away from expectation, the group of friends (but really, acquaintances) made basically out of consequence rather than compatibility loosely gathered, again, annoying the one that annoyed Merida most. He was the one to interject in the conversation she was sharing with Astrid only, mind him, that didn’t require a third opinion.

“Have you ever noticed how they start arguments over literally nothing?” Astrid asked of Fishlegs.

“It would be funnier if it were about nothing,” Tuffnut complained, “It’s just always boring crap now.” 

The ‘boring crap’, today, wasn’t exactly a battle of faith, if she were being honest with herself. Out of anybody in her family, she was most indignant towards their visits to church over the years. However, she was more indignant towards his mocking speech, so she defended the old tales about walkable water and food replication when he compared them to magician’s tricks.

 

“You have a carnivorous pet that hasn’t eaten yu in your sleep yet. I’d think you were the type that would believe in miracles.” That got a few of them to laugh.

“No,” Astrid shook her head and declared, “we are not holding a religious debate.”   
“It’s not a religious debate. She’s allowed to believe in God and that Jesus was his prophet, even reincarnation,” he said with a smile, and no jurisdiction over what she was ‘allowed’ to do, “but it’s outright to believe that he… for example, was conceived i _ mmaculately _ .”

On the higher ground, she challenged him, “What do you mean by that?”

The sneer in his response nearly made her punch him before he had finished saying, “I do hope you know where babies come from.”   
“They come from women,” she answered.

“Not spontaneously.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m thick.” The pull of Astrid’s hand alerted her that she was now standing, but she didn’t back down. “I’m aware. I’d just think the creator of the universe might be able to break their own rules now and again.”   
He never flinched. “Thinking isn’t knowing.”

“You weren’t _ there _ . You don’t know either!”

Somebody said her name and was ignored.

“Human reproduction hasn’t changed much in the last two thousand years,” he insisted.

“So?” She narrowed her eyes. “I know you, I’ve seen your father. If genetics are consistent, you should look  _ something  _ alike.”   
Snotlout hollered in amusement, Astrid told him to shut up, and Hiccup just rolled his eyes.

“Right, he can’t possibly be my father. I must be a miracle child of the Holy Spirit.”

That final remark left her without restraint. “Or maybe it wasn’t Jesus’ mother that was an infidel.”   
He rose, so abruptly that Fishlegs jumped, and met her eyes in a fearless stare that she was surprised to find awakening a cautious chill over her skin. Although neither moved , their position was the most threatening stance either had taken in front of the other. In a matter of seconds, she found herself stumbling from her lead in a chaotic game. He wasn’t planning to apologize for anything. Instead, he barely whispered, “Nobody’s told a joke like  _ that _ for awhile.”

Merida’s name repeated, and all but shouted, by Astrid. Her eyes had never looksed quite so unapproving. A look around revealed similar glares. Just a moment ago, snotlout’s mouth was smiling and not pursed shut, and the twins laughing, not wincing. Fishlegs, whom had shrunk down into a still huge form at the start of the argument, was the only one that seemed to up in bravery and move. His hand glanced against Hiccup’s arm with an impossibly gentle touch, stirring her opponent.

“I’m just… getting up to leave,” he mumbled, before doing just that.The silent Fishlegs followed ten steps behind him. Then a rare, bashful version of Snotlout. At some point before him, Astrid had fled without a sound. By the time Merida thought to ask, “What did I do?”, only Ruffnut stood before her, gazing in apparent awe.  
“You lost it.”

A warning bell sounded and sent her after her twin. Merida though, made no sudden movement.

 

Stepping into the next class a few minutes late was nothing she wasn’t used to, but typically she never felt disoriented, so the unamused gaze from their instructor (she still hadn’t committed his name to memory) embarrassed her for once. Upon seeing the rest of the class, though, nobody else was looking her way. The only one that ever had, most of the time in caution, was doing his best to ignore her now.

Fishlegs constantly whispering to his friend, though, kept drawing herr attention. Hiccup seemed to wave him off, like he had earlier. She heard several fragments of Fishlegs’ hardly lowered murmuring.

_ “Did you you see Astrid?” _ , answered only with a single nod of the head.

_ “At least she knows she’s no good now, right?” _ , answered with a shush, which was acknowledged with another famously unimpressed gaze from he instructor.

Merida had barely paid attention to Astrid leaving them behind, but now wondered about it. She became more irritated every time Hiccup started something, but this time it seemed that her own words were what sent her off. Nobody was alright with anything rude said to Hiccup, all of a sudden, that much was clear. It was obvious that half of what she said was either a joke or exaggeration, anyways. She didn’t know or have any opinion on his mother, but they all acted like they didn’t realize that, even him.

The hands of the clocks in ever room ticked on forward, the whole hour, the whole day.

Even him...

Only when she made that last comment, something set him off, and everybody else knew what. Something she didn’t know was on display in the mind of everyone she had met here, and they didn’t seem to plan on telling her what it was. Why?   
What makes them think I’ve gone mad? What am I missing? And why is it my fault?   
The questions were agonizing, and turned back to the one asked before,  _ what did I do? _   
Even though she had no answers, she knew Astrid, and everyone else, would expect her to. Now even they might hate her. Even if they didn’t, a bridge had to be rebuilt, and she had to be much more careful crossing it. The next few hours of classes, she might as well have disappeared, because her headache blurred up any thoughts now that she knew what she needed to do next. 

 

Classes ended, and hallways emptied onto the outdoor blacktop. She found him unwinding a bike lock from the rack on the South entrance. It would be like tearing off a bandage, she though, just a few seconds to dread. On second thought, it seemed more like swallowing a bug. It wouldn’t actually hurt, just make her cringe badly for a minute and once again whenever remembering it. Apology never came easily, and this would be the worst ever. With a deep breath, she forced herself to walk forward. 

Hiccup didn’t look up as she approached or when she stopped beside him. It was up to her to start the interaction, unfortunately. On the bright side, he wouldn’t notice that she couldn't stand to look at him while saying, “You know I din’t mean any of that from earlier.” When her tone started out sounding bold, she tightened her jaw to make her voice neutral. “About your mum, I mean. If that’s why you’re angry.”   
He still didn't make any move suggest he was listening, only put away the lock and pulled the bike out of the rack. 

“I’m just telling you I wasn’t being bold or nothing. Didn’t know I was crossing a line.”

Still, all Hiccup would afford her was a black glance or two as he wiped dew off of the seat and started walking away.

The ease with which he ignored Merida threw her sense of balance off. Most people would pay more attention to random passerby, and this was obviously out of pettiness, despite her attempt to apologize. She reset her composure and let the steel back into her words. “You can’t possibly be that cross with me.” Still, no response came as he reached the curb. Quickly she caught up to him and stepped into his way. “You’ll not say a single word?””

At last, he let his irritation took over and spoke, “That’s what we were supposed to do, wasn’t it?”

There was breath, but no words ready for her to use.

He was firm in asking, “Remember agreeing to stop talking to each other? That’s what I'm doing. I’m not talking to you, and I’m walking away.

I told you, I”m not starting anything.” Trying to sound calm wasn’t working as well as hoped, but that didn’t matter if nobody was listening. “Today was stupid, let’s forget about it.” She meant to say sorry, though the word disgusted her, before he glared back looking like she must have been tricking him into something.

“I don’t think you understood me. I don’t want anything to do with you. Keep talking to my friends, that’s fine. Just… please pretend that we never met, forget that I exist, or if you want, consider this the point at which I died,” he requested indifferently, “find another person to drive up the wall. I have enough to deal with already. We’re done doing this.” He mounted the bicycle and and sat still for a moment.

Now that she had a moment to speak, there was still nothing to say. Even if there was, he wouldn’t let her finish. Besides, he only stayed to say one more thing.

“You don't cross a line today. You crossed it the first time we spoke. I’m headed back to the other side now. Don’t wait up.” He set onto the road.

A dry wind swept against her face and caused her to blink. Only now that she had been left behind did she feel oddly alone, even more than earlier in the day. Astrid was inside, but she couldn’t talk to her now. Nobody was waiting for her to come home. The oddball had even told her off. It became starkly apparent, at the moment, there was absolutely no one that would listen anymore. None of them had ever wanted to in the first place. 

Who cared? She felt foolish for ever trying to stay on anyone’s good side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this chapter I hate this chapter I hate this chapter and I didn’t know how to make it better


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so I’m not dead, I just had a crappy job for a while, then I wrote and boarded the pilot of a story I plan to animate soon. Not as a job. It’s literally a DIY cartoon. I still live in my mom’s drafty-ass attic. But I still care about this story so here, have some drama.

Class was going start in just two minutes, and Merida still wasn’t there. She had waited for her as long as she could outside the doors, but she wasn’t about to get marked late over it. The way things were going, it didn’t surprise her that she would skip. Astrid knew it wasn’t a popular class to have first thing in the morning, plus Merida had seemed unwilling to talk for some days. It turned out a unit on soccer was next, so maybe that would get her back in the gym once she got the news.

The morning declined with time as the next hour started. If she tried thinking of something other than Merida, her mind didn’t turn to the micro-economics powerpoint in front of her, just Heather. That might have put her in a better mood, but it certainly didn’t make for very useful notes. It was so  _ odd _ , the way she would disappear for a while and come back with a hundred new stories. Why disappear anyway, though? The teacher gave a much needed pause as someone entered to give him something, which he then held out to her; a slip from the office. “They need to see you by the end of the day”.    
Though curious, she settled on saving it until after the next period- she might as well stay for an easy class like English, and spending a half hour break around a brag, a snark, the twins, and a recent bird-watching enthusiast felt like too much for that day. For all she knew, they might just be asking her to collect a textbook she forgot in the locker room… No, she knew she didn’t, she never lost things like that.

Crossing the hall to her next class, which Merida should have been leaving from, there was still no sign of her. Astrid watched the other students file out and prepared to hear a lengthy rant later on about how unfair it was to be punished for skipping a full day of school. The note nearly slipped her mind, but remained the preferred course of action. She slipped out of the current towards the office.

When a few yards away, the door opened, and out walked Ruffnut. A bad feeling rooted there that she was about to be questioned as a witness, yet again, to some nonsense Snotlout, Tuff, or Hiccup had gotten into. The only thought comforting her was that she didn’t remember witnessing anything questionable, and she’d be out quickly. She strolled in, looking calm as she passed the slip to the receptionist and began to politely ask what she was there for, but a woman in uniform approached from the corner.  
“Astrid Hofferson?” she asked.  
“I… Yes?” At first it seemed the officer might have been a security guard, but Astrid then noticed a badge.

A counselor she’d never seen stayed in the room while she answered questions, probably to keep her calm, but it didn’t do much.  
“Have you seen or heard from Merida DunBroch since this last Saturday?”  
Astrid’s heart pounded once. “Uh, no.”   
“When _was_ the last time you heard from her?”  
“Friday. Here - at school, I mean.”  
“Would you please tell us if she said anything about going somewhere, meeting someone on her own...?”  
“No. I - I mean, she didn’t.”  
“You’re not going to be in any trouble, Astrid.”  
Heat ran into her face. She had _better_ not look afraid.“She didn’t say anything weird.”  
The counselor leaned forward in their seat. “Do you have any questions for us?”

Immediately she answered, “No,” then realized she had dozens.  
Either they spoke only in fragments, or she could only hear her own thoughts as they went on.

She stepped out into the hall, trying not to look tense. Fishlegs and Snotlout were wandering some yards away with Hiccup, who asked, “Where have you been?”  
“Office.” When Snotlout gave her a weird face, she asked, “None of you have gone in yet, have you?”  
“What for? Who said we had to?”  
“They didn’t ask for you?”  
He grimaced. “Please don’t tell me they’re making us do more ‘future focus’.”  
“Astrid!”, she heard Ruffnut shout and run up from behind, “Did you talk to the cops, too?”  
“Woah,  _ what _ ?” Hiccup said, followed by Snotlout complaining, “God, they’re gonna do another ‘say no to drugs’ spiel.”  
Tuffnut caught up quickly. “You guys didn’t hear?”  
Ruff finished, “Merida’s gone!”  
Everyone stopped to absorb those words, then Fishlegs hesitantly asked, “You mean ‘dead’, or ‘absent from class’?”

The twins shrugged. Tuff answered, “Somewhere in there,” and Ruff added, “And slash or.”  
Tuff corrected her, “No, no, she’s  _ definitely _ absent, but  _ may _ or  _ may not _ be dead. It’s more accurate to say at  _ least absent  _ and _ at most _ dead.”  
“She’s missing,” Astrid interjected. “Nobody’s seen her since Friday.”  
Fishlegs, Hiccup, and Snotlout were shocked to silence.

Astrid asked the twins, “Why were you two the only others they called in?”  
“People trust me with secrets,” Tuff told her, but Ruff elbowed him.   
“Come on, just be serious for once.” She wasn’t acting herself, but Astrid wondered if that was because this was ‘upset’ Ruffnut.  
Tuff answered again, “I don’t know, we sit in chemistry class together. Our teacher’s always pissed at us for screwing around, so she probably assumed we’re her friends.”  
Astrid’s nerves turned from numb to aching all over. “We can’t be the only people that ever talk to her.”  
“Yeah,” Snotlout pointed to himself and Fishlegs, “We talk to her too, sort of. When she’s with you guys...” His attempt at looking levelheaded was undermined by his encouraging smile tilting away one side at a time.   
“I think Hiccup counts for at least an acquaintance,” Fishlegs nodded.   
Astrid asked, “Wait, Hiccup, if state police know about this, shouldn’t your dad? Didn’t he tell you?”

Hiccup looked more confused than anything else. “It… certainly wasn’t brought up over dinner.” Thank God he didn’t want to talk any more than that, because Astrid didn’t want to listen.   
As easy as it was to get pissed at Merida, as much as she seemed to try to get on someone’s nerves, there was no girl around to get angry at now. Instead, Astrid was just angry. Someone was gone (lacking any better description), her friends were cluelessly bantering over it, and nothing in that town ever made any damn sense.


	15. Chapter 15

The end of the day, somehow, was worse. One friend had a particular skill in making that so. Astrid, as it turned out, was not the last person to speak to Merida before her disappearance. Maybe he thought that would make her feel better. His common sense was alarmingly faulty.  
He described the last time they spoke, at least they last time Merida _ tried  _ talking to someone. Hiccup had seen her, heard her, and averted her before anything meaningful had been said. There was no knowing where she went afterward. Astrid remembered the last things she had said to her before then. The clear truth stung her. “She was going to apologize to you.”   
“I really doubt that.”  
She didn’t see him roll his eyes, but was prepared to pry them out in the event.   
“Do you remember who we’re talking about?” He asked.  
“Yeah,” Astrid answered, “Merida. I actually knew her. Even when I was pissed at her I gave her a chance to talk.”   
“Sorry, it wasn’t like I had any reason to think she had anything to say to me.” Good god, nothing was more obnoxious than his false apologies.  
“Just because you don’t like her doesn’t mean she doesn’t matter.”  
Hiccup became defensive. “I don’t _ not  _ like her, I don’t care about her,” he said, then stammered, “I - I don’t feel either way about her, as a person, I mean.” Astrid waited for him to decide what he was saying. He finally stated, “It’s bad that she’s missing. I have no opinion of her.”  
Astrid shook her head. “That’s an obvious truth followed by an obvious lie.”  
“What do you  _ want  _ me to say, Astrid?”  
“Does that  _ matter _ ? This has nothing to do with me. Or you.” She took one step closer. “If there’s anything I  _ want _ you to say - anybody to say - it would be ‘We forgot to tell you, she’s home safe now’. But if you’re seriously more concerned about saying the ‘right thing’ to me than what’s going on,” Astrid then halted to sharpen her point, “Re-prioritize.”

Then, Astrid was recounting his recounting to the only person she could stand talking to anymore. “That was the last time anyone talked to her. Here I was feeling guilty for what I had said.”

“You think he thinks it’s his fault?” Heather asked.   
“What?”  
“Like if he hadn’t argued with her, she wouldn’t have embarrassed herself like that. And if he didn’t walk away, she’d still be around. He’d be wrong, but you know him. Thinks too much.”   
“Whatever he thinks isn’t my priority. I’m not going to worry about  _ him _ when she could be anywhere, dead or alive.”   
“Astrid, Merida really seems like the kind of girl that either gets what she needs or takes what she wants, and she didn’t want to be here.”  
What could _ that  _ mean? That Merida had needed this to happen? Astrid didn’t ask, ony stared at Heather.  
“She didn’t get kidnapped or hurt, she ran away.” The thought shocked Astrid, and while she couldn’t bring herself to bet on anything else, she was sure it was wrong.

She looked to Heather without doubt. “No, she wouldn’t.”   
“She just moved somewhere new and confusing, she was frustrated, mad at her parents, with only a couple friends-”   
“You barely knew her, Heather.”  
“So did you.”  
“She’s not that stupid.”  
“ _ I’ve _ done it!”  
“That was once, and… different.”  
Heather shook her head. “It wasn’t once.”  
Astrid waited, unable to respond.  
“The first time, I was five. Then eleven, then thirteen… then a couple months ago.”  
“You can’t be serious.” She could believe once or even twice, but not four times. Heather, though, showed no sign of bluffing. “I know you’ve had trouble with foster parents before, but… what happened a couple months ago?”  
Heather waved her off. “It doesn’t matter. I’m fine.”  
“Why would you run away if you were fine?”  
“Sometimes you don’t feel fine, but a few days later, you’re fine. You’d understand if you were a little more...” She glanced around, hoping not to unflatter Astrid, “Rebellious.”  
“I’m rebellious,” Astrid protested.  
“You’re confident, you’re cool, you kick ass,” Heather said, “but you’re not rebellious. You do what you know, just aggressively. Like one of those fighting robots with rotating saws sticking out of them.”  
“God, Fishlegs has been showing those videos to you too?”  
“They’re awesome!” Heather laughed. “But Merida and I aren’t like that. We do something wild because we don’t know what else to do. If I’m okay, she’ll be okay.”

That would be more comforting to hear if Astrid could ever be sure Heather was okay. Moving around to different families every few years is how Heather had shown up, and how she’d disappeared again. She walked a thin line, and Astrid wondered how she earned the privilege to her own car after a runaway.

“Maybe it is his fault, then.”  
“I doubt it,” Heather answered, “but let him sweat. It’ll teach him something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan on posting new chapters on Saturdays, because I have lots more ready but don't want to keep purging it all at once. Thank you for reading through the 15k word exposition! I promise it's just about to turn into a real story!


	16. Chapter 16

Maybe it _ was _ him. Not something he did, but who he was. This was the third time somebody he knew vanished in town. Was every girl or woman he knew bound to disappear? Obviously not, Astrid was right that it was pointless wondering what he had to do with this, even though he didn’t make anything better in his last exchange with Merida. Nothing had ever happened to Ruff or Astrid, after all (but who or  _ what _ would try something with them?). It was just two people before Merida. One returned after several years... The other never did.

Still, he couldn’t convince himself she could be in any danger. The wild dragons were rarely hostile and were hibernating now, after all. It wasn’t fear he felt about the disappearance, but nagging curiosity. If it weren’t for that curiosity, maybe it would mean he was just ignoring the issue out of bitterness toward her. He really did want her to be safe and to go home eventually, not only to calm the nerves of everyone in town, but to know what  _ happened _ . Where does somebody like that go?

Was it a choice, or a mistake? Either way, someone was away from her friends and family in some unfamiliar place.  
And he’d walked away.  
It was true that it didn’t matter what he thought about her. There’s no point in anyone being in her situation.  
Toothless pulled him out of his thoughts with a low growl of concern.  
“You can’t just let me feel shitty, can you?”  
Toothless grumbled a  _ ‘No’ _ back. Fine, then, Hiccup knew just the right place to keep dwelling.

It almost felt wrong to step ahead. He wondered if he was trying to get himself lost too. At least half the trees leaves had dropped, placing a cushion on the forest floor. Along they trudged through the mounds. Toothless, in a decent mood himself, leaped in and out of the biggest piles, blown up against felled trees.

The wind picked up, throwing leaves into the air. Hiccup watched as they swirled with the breeze, then settled about. As the fell out of the air, he spotted something moving behind them. Suddenly feeling he was watched, Hiccup's heart skipped two beats, and made up for them quickly. Whatever he saw was like no living creature he had ever heard of. It had eyes, but it was hard to tell if it had a body. He blinked over and over, waiting for his vision to clear, but the bright, undefined shape remained. It looked as though it was moving, in fact. Balancing in mid-air, waving arms of mist.

"I cannot be seeing this..." He backed away. Toothless groaned and shifted uncomfortably, and any other noise in the forest had muted. Those were good signs to leave, but also begging his curiosity. It idled with a bouncing motion and shushing sounds. Hiccup stepped with as little noise possible, taking slow and deliberate paces toward the odd shape. When there was finally just a few feet between the two, the shape dissipated without a trace. "What?"

Toothless, now behind him, crooned in confusion. There were a few seconds of peace. Then, when Hiccup’s eyes drifted further forward, the blue thing was back, just moved ahead. For all he knew it could be a different one, he thought, or the same illusion. Still, he and Toothless stepped further. This shape poofed away like the last, and reappeared to lengthen their path. As wrong as it seemed to follow mysterious lights further from home, the irresistible urge to be near them conquered all natural trepidation. One disappeared after another.

After one vanished by a tree’s trunk, Hiccup couldn’t see any more. He walked around it, scanning the ground. In every direction, there were only the trees and brush. Toothless even sniffed around, nosing into ferns, wondering what had stopped them.

Suddenly breathing heavily, Hiccup though, ‘They float, don’t they?’, still unsure what ‘they’ were. Just like the ground, he didn’t see them at eye level, higher up, or anywhere at all. He looked up at the tree and saw no blue, but a different odd shape. A rusty red like that of the maple leaves. He circled around for a better view of it, but it didn’t look like mist. It wasn’t fire, either.

“Oh my god, is -?”  
He yelled up at her. “Merida?!”  
He didn’t see her face, just her arm clutch the tree when she flinched in surprise.  
“Merida!” he repeated. “What are you doing here?”  
She looked down at him, her face incredulous. “I’m... in a tree.”  
He shook his head. “I see that, but  _ why _ ?” The reality of the situation was dawning on him as absurd. “Get down here!”  
As he waited, she leaned her head against the tree and groaned, visibly giving up. “Fine, then,” she called out.  
Merida climbed down, once slipping and making him hold his breath. At the bottom, she turned and scowled at him. “What?”  
He opened his arms. “This is where you’ve been?”  
“You noticed I was gone.”  
“Quite a few people have noticed.”  
She frowned at him, and looked small in the oversized coat she wore. Even with that, her cheeks were beet red in the cold. “I’ve been gone less than two days.”  
“Yeah, well, some people are gone for years, if they ever come back.”

Her sour expression faltered. It wasn’t exactly fair of him to say that. He was wearing terribly close to where she had made a mistake, and she noticed.   
“I’m just saying, everyone has been expecting the worst. I think it’s about time you go home."   
"You think?" she asked. “Well, I’m fine, and you’re not taking me back with you. I didn't come out here so you can play hero.”  
“Hero? I’m...” He ran his hand down his face. “I’m just suggesting a reasonable course of action.”  
“I’m not a big fan of ‘reasonable’...” She folded her arms. The huge sleeves crossed her chest like a shield.  
“I could tell.”  
“- _ or _ the half-arsed hero logic you’re pretending not to use. Am I the only one that can see how pitiful it is?”  
“Do you ever even think of how you affect others?” He shot back. “How you can hurt them?”  
Merida scoffed, “What does that have to do with anything?”  
“You don’t realize, or seem to care, that you’re scaring people. Your friends, your family...”  
“One friend,” she muttered.  
“And she’s worried sick about you.”   
“Is that why you’re here?”   
The implication that Astrid being upset eventually set him in the woods was  _ partially  _ correct, which he elected not to admit.   
“I’m here because I like being here. Letting everyone wonder if something happened to you isn't right.”  
“ _ Nothing _ I do is right!” she yelled at him.   
Hiccup tried to de-escalate the argument. “Look, I didn't say that-”

She stood firmly with fists clenched. “When I screw up volleyball, it’s my fault a girl's hurt. If I’m doing poor in classes, I’m stressing my mum out. When an arrow goes astray, I scare you, you rant to your father, who rants to mine, and then my bow is taken away. I understand, yeah, everything I do is inconveniencing _ everyone _ , hurting everyone. Even out here, leaving you all be, I’m still causing problems. I thought I could take a wee break from ruining all of your lives, but I suppose I do that no matter what.”

While she caught her breath, Hiccup took in what she said with her harsh look. He didn’t want to fight with that, or apologize to it. The thought came back to him, how wandering into the forest alone, past the frost date,  _ was  _ out of choice. No reason that had to happen, no matter what he felt. And honestly, he felt terrible. It was obvious she did too.

After several possible replies presented themselves in his mind, he stuck to his previous statement, “You still have to go home.”  
“Then rat me out! Save the day, get me into more trouble, what does it matter?” Apparently finished dealing with him, she freed her hair from the coat and stomped off deeper into the grove.

For the fervor with which she told him the opposite, she seemed to give up quickly on her plan to stay. Though, the permission to pass on her whereabouts, he knew, wasn’t sincere and wouldn’t be considered valid explanation if he chose to exercise it. If he told, the game everyone lost at would never end. He walked in her direction.  
“One more night. If you’re back by tomorrow,” he tossed up his hands, “This never happened. If I don’t hear from or about you by then… I’m going to talk.”  
She had turned to listen to him, and thought for a few seconds. “Fine,” she said, her casual attitude surprising him.  
“Really?”  
“I’ll be back at eight.”  
Staying out until it was that dark wouldn’t do. “Four,” he offered.  
“Seven.”  
“Six.”  
“Six- _ fifteen _ .” And  _ there _ was her obsession with feeling the champion.  
Trying not to groan, he said, “Sure. Six- _ fifteen _ ,” but silently kept the time limit at six.  
“One more thing,” he called, and tossed his cell phone at her as soon as she turned back around. “It’s locked, but you can emergency dial. You know, police, Astrid... your  _ parents _ ,” he emphasized.  
“You trust me with this?” It sounded more like a question of motive than of trust.  
“Not really, but I don’t want to lead them back to a body.”  
She put her hands along with the phone back into the coat. “You’ll not be leading them anywhere,” she said, and left heading north.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize the 16th chapter hadn't been posted here and was preparing the 17th all weekend. Great. Well! There's a 3k word chapter to follow that actually WILL be ready on Saturday.


	17. Chapter 17

Two minutes after the clock read 6:15, Hiccup glanced up from a textbook at the kitchen clock for at least the hundredth time that evening. He wasn’t absorbing anything from the book, or even precisely sure that this page had anything to do with an assignment. Nevertheless, he turned it, since it had been 10 minutes since he had last. His father probably wasn’t noticing how distracted his son was anyways, and spoke for the first time since they cleaned up dinner only to grumble, “You’re shaking the table."  
Hiccup quit impatiently bouncing his leg. “Sorry.”

This time of night was the most regular “bonding” that was shared, though it usually took place in exactly this way; Hiccup attempting homework, and his father shuffling through notes and reports from work. It still maintained some consistency of their relationship, though, and words weren’t necessary for either to feel satisfied with an interaction. In the case of this night, Hiccup was thankful that he wasn’t expected to converse about his uneventful day, but eager to know if there was any news about Merida unexpectedly returning. From Stoick’s silence, there apparently wasn’t.

A startling ring erupted from the home phone in the living room.  
Stoick took little notice, but Hiccup glanced between the phone and his father before the second ring.   
“Aren’t you going to answer that?”  
His father looked up quizzically and responded, “Aren’t you going to let me do it myself?”  
Stoick stood and moved to the phone so  _ painfully _ slowly, and didn’t speak until a few seconds after picking it up.   


“Really. Where?”  
“Well, good. I told you I didn’t know anything about it… Then _ trust me _ next time.”  
Before the phone was laid on the receiver, Hiccup asked, “Who was that?”  
“Gobber. The madman found his hedge clippers  _ in _ the hedge.”

Hiccup’s shoulders fell. He could ask him specifically about any news on Merida, but what good would it do to make it obvious he was so curious? This was supposed to have been discrete. Toothless had been moving about restlessly and nearly tripped Stoick while running in front of him. “You and this dragon, today…”  
“Sorry, I guess he’s jittery,” Hiccup replied, feeling the same way.  
“Maybe you two need to take a walk, then.”

It sounded as though he was beginning to bother his father, but that was fine by Hiccup, since it might ease his worry to take the advice. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I will. I’ll go on a walk with Toothless.” Stoick turned to watch him leave, possibly realizing the sun had gone down an hour before, but doing nothing to stop them.

Hiccup stepped out into the foggy air. By then, the watch he wore read 6:24. Seeing as she was constantly late to class and took joy in toying with him, it would be no surprise to find her behind schedule in the same place he left her. Toothless moved immediately toward the forest and Hiccup followed.  
From the bottom of the forest floor to the visible parts of the tree carapace, there was plenty of space for her to be. Though, he saw it all without any sign she had ever been there. Hiccup called her name, first as a projected whisper, eventually an irritated shout. It was getting close total darkness, so finding the right way out of the trees was a bit more complicated than usual. Passing headlights helped him find the road.  
He had been the last person to talk to a missing girl _ twice  _ now. That wouldn’t be a problem, though, if he could just find her the second time too.

Hiccup peeked in the window of his home to see his father was nowhere around the living room, hopefully in his own bedroom. If careful and fast enough, Hiccup could be back out of the house in a few minutes. Toothless pushed in the door as soon as it was open, and they both made fast towards their room. Hiccup started his computer and impatiently stared until it finally booted. The clock was at 7:08 now. It would be way too early for him to remain in his room for the night, so Plan B had to either be quick or wait some hours. He clicked the “Find my Phone” bookmark as soon as the browser would open.

The point dropped on the map. She (or at least, his phone) was over two miles away already. He dropped his face into his hand. “Jesus…” There had been no reason to trust she would keep a promise. Why did he bother making one? “God  _ damn _ it. Really?” It might take an hour to catch up on his own, and if he waited, she could get even further. There was one more option. He walked back out of his room for the landline.

Jack answered. “Yeah?”   
“Can you drive somewhere right now?”  
“Oh, it’s you. Yeah, I was actually about to get some food. What phone are you calling from?”  
He ignored the question. “I need a favor, no questions asked.”  
Jack sighed before saying, “Go ahead.”  
“Pick me up, take me toward the highway, await further instruction.”  
“The _highway_.” Hiccup almost reiterated, ‘No questions asked’ before Jack ended his pause. “Sure. Why not.”  
“Hurry.”

He hung up the phone just as Stoick stepped back into the room.  
“Oh, dad. Um.” Hopefully running in plain sight would work as well as hiding… “I’m going somewhere with Jack real quick.”  
His father looked oddly back. “Now?”

Asking for permission was not an option. He put on the jacket he’d just taken off. “I’ll be back before 10. More like 9:30. Real quick.”  
Stoick rubbed his face and started back out of the room. “Take your phone.”  
“Of course, I’ll… I’ll go get it…”

Hiccup ran out again when Jack pulled up four minutes later. “We can do your thing first,” Jack said, “but I’m still getting Wendy’s.”  
“Whatever, just go. Fast.”  
“I get it,  _ Gotta Go Fast _ .”  
They reached the end of the road at the forest and headed right for the highway.

Jack surely noticed how odd he was acting. “So, I know it’s no questions asked, but you’re totally welcome to explain what’s going on.”  
“Well, it’s… I need to…” Hiccup didn’t want to or know how make sense of the situation, but broke it down to the essentials. “I might know where Merida is.”  
“What? That girl?”  
“And with luck, we’re picking her up in a minute.”  
“We? What, did she call you up for a ride?”  
Hiccup rolled down his window to squint at the dark. “Practically the opposite.”  
“What does that even mean?”  
“You’ve asked, like, five questions already.” It was useless trying to see anything out there. Even on the highway the lights left plenty of dark spaces along the side of the road.  
“Okay, well, we’re on the highway.” He threw a glare at Hiccup. “I await further instruction.”  
“Just… keep going.” A minute passed quietly. Only a few cars passed the other way and cast yellow light from the left. Hiccup’s heart and mind were racing wondering if this could possibly work, then stopped when a blue light flashed from the right. “Stop!”   
“Shit, Hiccup!” Jack startled, and started pulling to the shoulder. “Don’t scare me when I’m  _ driving _ , goddamn it.”  
“Sorry,” Hiccup muttered absentmindedly, seeing no more light, but watching where it had been. He got out while the car still inched forward, and ran toward what he’d seen. A few dozen feet from the car, and he spotted her face turning up, her wide eyes reflecting like a deer’s. Naturally, she bolted. He could hear Jack call from behind, but listened to the chase instead.

Hiccup could barely see her, but could sense the right direction, and moved as quickly as his bad leg allowed. Even that was hardly beyond speed walking on the uneven terrain in the full dark. As he realized he had no hope of catching up to her, Jack appeared sprinting on his right and threw a blast of ice some meters ahead of Merida that flashed like lightning. When a gleaming snowbank seemed to appear out of nowhere, she tried to turn on her heel, but instead planted her foot straight onto the ice surrounding it. She slid into the pile in a second. The two chasers closed the gap left between themselves and her before she could get her face out of the snow, let alone her feet on the ground.

“What - what the hell  _ is this _ ?” She exclaimed.   
Jack took hold and hoisted her up by her arm as he said, “The hair isn’t just a cool dye job.”  
Merida let out a quiet whine and smacked Jack’s shoulder, making him release her. Hiccup tilted his head and glanced at Jack, who took a wary step back from her. She looked at Hiccup with a frown, making it clear he’d better not take a step closer, and simply asked, “ _ How? _ ”  
Hiccup held his hands to the sides. “It’s called ‘Find my Phone’?”  
She threw her head back. “ _ Och, aye _ .”  
“How did _ that  _ help you find her?” Jack asked.  
“I can explain on the way.” He looked at Merida. “So, are you coming compliantly, or...? Because, you know, there’s more ice where that came from.”  
“Hey,” Jack interjected, “I’m not a weapon.”  
Merida held her hands up in satiric surrender and walked.

Jack, though, kept his promise. Minutes later, they had parked in nearly empty lot. “Don’t try anything funny, I put the child-lock on in the back,” he told Merida. “And let’s keep our hands to ourselves, kiddos.” Hiccup glared at Jack as he left the car.  An all-consuming silence followed.

Hiccup tried not to move, but glanced back at Merida through the mirror. She stared out her window. Her arms crossed, then one rubbed her shoulder.   
“You’re not hurt, right?,” he asked her. “You fell on the ice pretty hard.”  
“Weren’t you threatening me with it a minute ago?”  
“Just seemed like the best way to convince you not to run.” He wanted to tell her it was for her own good, but he already felt enough like a captor.  
“You already won, I’m not gonna bother fighting more.”  
He turned around to look at her. “Won? What did I win?”  
Merida said nothing, but uncrossed her arms to gesture where they were.   
“That’s not what this is,” he sighed. It was easier when she was angry than silent. “I’m not fighting against you. I’m trying to do what seems like the right thing.”  
“People don’t do the ‘right thing’, they do things that make them feel better.”

She had spoken so calmly, without really directing it at him. That she thought of that was surprising. It begged a question from him, though, “Why did fighting with me make you feel better?”  
That sent her right back to annoyance. “I came to your  _ letterbox  _ one morning, in the pouring rain, so that I wouldn’t have to hand it back to you personally, you  _ bungfunnel. _ I don’t  _ want  _ to talk you.”  
“Then why are you always the one starting our pleasant conversations?”  
“Like when you whined about my bow and got it taken away? The last good thing I had here.”  
He narrowed his eyes. “Your only outlet for happiness is a projectile weapon?”  
“Archery’s a  _ sport _ . I’m _ good _ at it. My father made that bow for me when I was  _ six _ .”  
“Then it would follow you would know how to avoid shooting people.”

“I did NOT shoot you!” she yelled. “A fletching tore! And maybe because I’ve not gottae fix me arrows since I came to this shite town!” As she continued, her accent became thicker and she didn’t seem to be speaking just English. Fearless of it now, Hiccup watched her blankly, waiting for her to burn out. Her stream of unintelligible profanities only cut off as Jack opened the driver’s door and climbed in with a paper bag.  
“I’m not killing the mood, am I?”  
“I’m glad you are.” Hiccup said. “And how many chicken nuggets did you buy?”  
Jack took out two medium boxes. “Twenty only costs, like, fifty cents more than ten. And hasn’t your friend been living off of bugs and sticks for two days?” He held one out to Merida.  
She looked at him, surprised. “You’re giving me this?”  
“You want it?”  
She quietly answered, “Yes, please,” and took the offering. Her politeness was quite disconcerting, in the way that even a faint light can be when one’s eyes have adjusted to pitch black of a room, or a soul. Hiccup didn’t believe he had heard either words in her voice before.  
“Okay,” Jack looked between the two of them. “I want to know exactly how this works.”  
Hiccup answered, ”We’re taking her home, then never talking about this again.”  
“No, I meant whatever you’re doing  _ here _ . This pissing contest. Why aren’t you just fighting like normal people? Not like I consider you normal people.” He looked at Merida. “Sorry, I barely know you, but the bow-hunting thing disqualifies you.”

Merida looked not to mind as the more pressing prospect of warm food was at hand, so Hiccup answered. “We’ve done our fighting. And we agreed to stay out of each other’s ways, but somehow,  _ someone  _ keeps forgetting that.”  
Now Merida was motivated. “I’ll remind you that you’re the one that has me hostage right now.”  
“Because you broke our deal.”  
“You have a deal?” Jack asked. Hiccup was hoping he could leave this to explain later.  
“I caught her in the woods yesterday, gave her my phone, and we agreed she’d go home by tonight. When _ that  _ didn’t happen,” he pointed his glare at her, “I tracked my phone.”  
“You found a missing person and just waited to see what would happen? Why didn't tell your dad about this?”  
“Really should have,” Merida said. “I’d rather your father throw me in a car than you.”  
“If you hate being near me so much, you could have given my notebook to Astrid instead of arguing on the porch.”  
Jack interrupted before they could continue. “Hold on, was that the notebook she stole?”  
Merida threw her head back. “My  _ God _ , I didn’t steal it! You told him I stole it?”  
Hiccup kept his voice low. “I thought you stole it, okay? And I was wrong. I admit, I was wrong that time.”  
“Thanks for letting me know. Here I was, thinking I’d committed theft and near manslaughter.”  
Hiccup turned away from her. “Jack, she showed up at my house one morning in a rainstorm to stick a  _ notebook _ in my mailbox.”  
Jack frowned at him. “How does she know where you live?”  
Hiccup’s eyes widened, never having considered the question. He faced Merida and demanded, “How do you know where I live?”  
“It’s just further up the street than me,” she said, “And your dragon’s always staring out the window, you can’t miss that! Every time I walk past he’s watching me! Like I’m prey.”

Hiccup was going to respond, but noticed Jack shake his head with a bit of a smile.  “You find this pretty entertaining, don’t you?”  
Jack sat up straighter and nodded. “Oh. Yeah. And I get it now. I see the problem.”  
“Which?” Merida asked.  
“Why you hate each other. You, uh…” He barely held back a bout of laughter. “You have  _ all _ the wrong things in common.”  
“We have nothing in common!” they retorted, in near unison. Hiccup could have shivered right out of his skin.    


Jack ran down his list, “You don’t know how to act socially inappropriate, you’re overly defensive, so you run into conflict, and you get hung up on the tiniest things. And you’re so stubborn that you’re right about them that you’ll purposefully talk to someone you say you hate.”  
The car became quiet with only the sound of Jack eating for a few seconds, while Hiccup felt somehow violated by such an accurate description. Merida also looked uncomfortable, but then bitterly told Jack, “You met me _ today, _ bawbag.” Hiccup couldn’t hold back a laugh.

Jack resented that. “You see? That’s incredibly rude. I saved your life and gave you sustenance.” He pointed at Hiccup, who was trying to keep a straight face. “And you do this shit all the time too.”  
“In the two years I’ve known you, I’m pretty certain I’ve _ never _ taken chicken nuggets from you and then called you a ballsack.” Now Merida was trying not to laugh, and Jack shook his head in disappointment.  
“Yeah, whatever, you assholes deserve each other. Where does she live?”  
“Close enough to be stalked by my dragon.”

As they approached her home, Hiccup told Jack to pull over behind the cover of a tall shrub bordering the neighbor’s yard. In the solid darkness, he stepped out and released the back door, letting Merida out. He stood still as she stepped toward the house, then turned to him.  
“You’re not... ‘turning me in’,” she asked him, “Just letting me go?”  
“No reason not to. If you want, you can explain to your parents how I...” He motioned air quotes, forgetting that they were practically invisible in the shadows. “didn’t want to hand you back personally, you bungfunnels.”  
He heard her exhale and couldn’t tell in the dark if it was laughter or scoffing. “Well, thanks, I guess.”

They split apart, and he watched her stepping into the slightly brighter space before her front door, hesitating for a moment.  _ Please just go in. Please go, and we can all wash our hands of this...  _ Merida knocked. A light flicked on. A moment later, she stood meekish as the door opened, quickly producing a clearly overjoyed woman that wrapped around a startled Merida with muffled praises.

At that signal, Hiccup jumped back into the car. “We’re good. Back away, quietly. Lights off.”  
“This is weird.” Jack gently pulled back and whispered with an anxious rush. “This is really weird. Why do you always have to do weird stuff?”  
“You can relax already, it’s over.”  
“I thought the whole point of this was, like, delivering her to them. This is like if a pizza company ding dong ditched their customers.”  
“She’s… not a pizza.”  
“You know what I mean. You had a one-day-or-I’m-free-to-capture-you deal.”  
“Well, now she has no more reasons to hate me. I wasn’t seen by her family, you’re the only person who knows, and she can’t say I’m playing hero… Everything is settled. I didn’t lose this time.”  
“Didn’t lose what?”  
Hiccup let himself finally smile. “I didn’t say sorry this time. I didn’t apologize. She even thanked me. Did you hear that?”  
Jack nodded. “Yep, you definitely don’t have a hero complex.”  
He sank back into the seat with incredible relief. “It’s finally over. I never have to speak to her again.”  
Jack glanced at the backseat. “Did you get your phone back from her?”  
“... Damn it.”


	18. Chapter 18

Meeting somebody new and explaining the activation of his powers was never easy, but Jack didn't feel as much a need to hold back telling Rapunzel. After all, she had her own traumas, and her own powers. They were opposite to his own, though, because while she had been trapped for use of her powers and only met her parents once they were mostly lost, Jack only gained his with the loss of his family. 

The moments before the accident were unclear to him, as well as the moment they had lost control. It was colder than it should have been. Early patches of ice on the road were likely what sent them spinning. He could recall the aftermath, the car having turned over on the edge of the road, falling into the slope that led to the river.

His consciousness flashed away; possibly just a few seconds, or a few minutes. He drew in shaky breaths, shocked by the crash and the freezing air blowing through the broken windows. Glancing around himself, his eyes landed on his sister, strapped next to him. She was awake too, and looking at least as terrified as he was.  
"Are you alright?" He strained to ask.  
Olivia shook her head. “Jack, I’m scared.”

She hung sideways from her seat, clinging to the belt wrapped tightly around her. Below her, Jack tried his best to hide the unbearable pain in the arm that had come between his body and the car’s side.  
“Don’t be, we’re okay.” Even if the situation wasn’t good, they were both conscious and without obvious injury. His mother, however, didn’t seem to be. Though the car was dark, a beam of moonlight fell on her shoulder. It at first appeared motionless, but he was sure he saw it rise and fall with some time. They needed help to come, and fast. With a groan he forced himself to sit up straight, out of the belt.

Each movement sent shots of pain through his neck, putting spots in his vision. He reached sideways -upward, now- to Olivia to release her from the seat and down to his spot, then stood against his door to open the other side.  
“See, we’re okay, we’re fine.”  
Only a second later, the terrible sound became clear to him: cracking. The ice beneath them shifted. Panic surged through Jack as he fumbled against the car door, struggling to get them both out in time.  
“Jack?” His sister knew something was wrong, but it had to wait until they were back to safety. He couldn’t think of her fear now, or his own. He couldn’t think of mom. He couldn’t think of getting home without her. The only thing he was allowed to think of was the door, and getting on the other side of it. He struggled against its weight until he could hold it open with one arm and pick up Olivia with the other. The ice moaned. "Out out _out,"_ he ordered himself in silence.

“Jack, what do we do?”  
He remembered how to speak. “We’re climbing out. Come on.” He began pulling her up. His whole spine complained.  
“What’s going to happen?” she cried, staring at the front seats.  
“We’ll... go home.”  
“All of us?”  
“Yes! But you have to climb!” Jack heaved her up through the door quickly enough to forget the pain. When it returned, he yelled through it and tried pulling himself up, the door pressing against his head. Everything was aching with the pulse of worried blood, and the cold had started to settle into his skin. It was  so cold , he couldn’t believe it. 

The next moment, half of the strain went away as the door lifted. Silhouetted by the moonlight, Olivia had come to help and flung it wide open. From that point, the door could hold on its own, and he began to crawl out. She stayed on the upturned side of the car and reached for him with relief and hope. Only he heard the last awful noise.  
Her smile flew away with the sight of the sky, and her voice blurred into the paralyzing chill of the water. “ _ Ja-!” _

For a long time, he couldn’t feel anything. It felt like months swirling in the deep, cold, darkness. Who could tell what was real or wasn’t? Anything he had seen could have been a dream. " _ Why would there be ice in the lake?"  _ he wondered. _  "It's too early in the winter…" _ The feeling of trillions of tickling specks kept at least some part of his mind conscious. They were everywhere, not just around and on him, but  _ inside _ , turning him numb to the freezing world. He wished he could wake up and shake it all away, or at least find which way was up.

With time, it gently grew lighter, warmer, brighter, and it seemed that the world had turned to face him again. Up he floated like a sheet of ice - now it was certain. That’s when he finally opened his eyes. The moon was there again, but without Olivia. Where was she, and how long had it been since he had seen her? Yet, someone was there. He wanted to call out to her, to let her know he was fine, but he was still only half awake, and completely unable to move. Through the shrouded light, he could hear them, then see them, then feel their grasp.

“... found another… here... kid’s alive!”  
More than one of them. “Can’t be, it's ice cold... a pulse! Christ!” Their radios buzzed and blared.

Behind their shadows, the white light loomed, watching him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A break from the "current" story, just to explain more background... I didn't know how to integrate it better than a simple flashback. Sorry. Just enjoy your angst.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life got in the way of writing, but here is one small chapter before all the other chapters that are almost ready. I'd probably be putting it aside longer if it weren't for the attention this fic has been suddenly getting, so thanks so much to everyone reading and commenting!

That Sunday was sleepless and heavy. Monday eventually started. Even though she was encouraged to stay home that day, it was too overwhelming to stay as well as be absent once the town had learned she was home again. She hadn’t spoken to anyone else, but her father had told Hiccup’s father, and he apparently knew everyone. So that was sorted. Still, God, she could really stand to talk to Astrid, if nobody else.  
Actually getting to school came close to changing her mind. Astrid turned out to be a bit emotional over it as well. She froze, then ran to Merida the second she entered the gymnasium. It was sort of understandable, but would be less jarring if they were the type to hug before that second. Astrid might have noticed this, because she laughed at herself for a second.   
“You scared me, you know.”   
“Sorry,” Merida mumbled, “Didn’t mean to.”  
“What, did you think nobody would notice?”   
“I didn’t… really… think about it.” Now that she had to, it was difficult to look Astrid in the eye, especially with her eyelashes clumped up like that. Were her eyes wet, or had she just botched her makeup?   
The time she had been away felt like nothing, a welcome empty time where things could stand still. Coming back, then, was a shock. Merida tried not to feel ashamed on her way home, but the first look at her mother gathered all of her settled nerves into a knot, making her eyes sting as it tightened. It was easier to act normal at school, though nobody else would. Hiccup alone was unsurprised to see her again, and he still needed to pretend to. As expected, he did a poor job.  
  
“Mailbox? Seriously?” A discreet and friendly greeting alluding to the spot she’d dropped his cell phone off.  
“I thought you’d find it funny.”  
“You snuck out of your house again.” He sighed. “One night after returning.”  
“After being returned. And I went back, didn’t I?” She started to walk away from him.  
“Hold on,” She turned and let him catch up. “Hold on, hold on. What was this?” He held up the phone, displaying the background image: Merida sticking her tongue out.  
She smiled. “A parting gift.”  
He stammered the usual odd noises. “How did you even unlock it?”  
“I knew the password.”  
“No, you didn’t. None of my other friends do.”  
Her smile was replaced by a finger in his face. “First off: don’t ever note me as your friend.” By the look on his face, he hadn’t meant to. “Second: everyone knows how obsessed you are with your lizard.”  
“He’s a dragon.”  
“And you found him the 25th of June. Oh-six-two-five.”  
He nodded, remembering, “Which you must have read in my notebook. And remembered because?”   
It was easy to remember a week after her birthday, but one might as well look clever, so she held her chin up.“I remember everything. I almost forgot that you people write the day after the month, but that was the only tricky part.”  
Hiccup looked between her and the device struggling to decipher something. She certainly hoped he was as nervous as he looked.  
“And you didn’t do anything else with it?” he asked as she   
“No.” Nothing he’d be able to find out, anyway.

There was one time of that day in particular; one inescapable, horrid, embarrassing, free period where she couldn’t face everyone she knew one by one, but alltogether, where they’d watch her bullshite apologies and his God-damned forgiveness and they’d all wear great, bloody smiles and be good mates again… God. It pleased her to notice that Hiccup approached their group last, looking prepared to have teeth pulled. Odd, because even though he hated anything she had to say, she thought he might like a white flag in his face. No problem to her, at least they’d both hate it. It was enough punishment for them both to regret doing any of this.   
Astrid was going to be listening to them for a reason, but everyone else let their attention hover from several feet away. ‘Don’t you have anything to talk about?’ Merida wondered, then remembered where she’d been for the last few days.   
  
"Hey, Hiccup" Astrid said, like a warning alarm.  
"Hi," Merida said without expression. He wore a questioning look, but returned the same word, the same way.  
There was no reason to waste any time on it. “So, I've been obnoxious, that's clear." It... wasn't the sentence she planned on, but it came out quickly. Snotlout looked ready to make some objection, but shut his mouth before any words could escape, shook his head, and leaned back away.  
Hiccup settled on saying, "It wasn't really that big a deal."  
"No, not the last time, I'm always - I keep... ugh..." Merida sighed in annoyance and stopped caring about posture. It should be enough to say some truth, in the volume it's felt . “I’m just angry. I’m not even angry at anyone, just angry. So forget about anything I said, ever."  
Discomfort spread as soon as she was cured. Nobody was interested in overhearing this conversation anymore. Before anyone else could swap to a new one, Hiccup spoke back, “You know... we’re all so used to each other, I barely know how to talk to new people. And that’s not your fault.” He tried his best to sound casual, but looked down at his hands, folding and relaxing over and over.  
What, was he serious? It didn't sound as poorly delivered as his lies. They hadn't made any plan, but if they had, it wouldn't involved telling the truth to one another. It occurred to Merida that Astrid was waiting for a reaction from her. “Right, well…” she had to tilt her face a bit to not show it was tense. “Guess I don’t know how to act around new people either. So... sorry.”  
He’d given her a chance to look blameless. It didn’t feel like a trick, though, to take it. They both played several moves ahead. Given three guesses, two were that he just wanted to hear her say it.   
  
Ruffnut stopped acting uninterested and leaned up to Merida. “So, uh… In the woods. Did you sleep on the ground or in a tree?”   
Somehow, talking about her runaway was a relief. “Ground, against a tree. Though, honestly, I’d not sleep much.”  
“How could you sleep in a tree?” Tuffnut asked his sister, “You’d fall out.”  
“You can tie yourself to it. I did it in the backyard once.”  
Tuffnut squinted at her. “I tied you to it.”  
Ruffnut groaned, “I know, but I slept, didn’t I?” She returned to Merida. “You’re lucky if no rats bit you. They can climb too, but go for land prey first.” Then... smiled, for some reason.   
Merida looked back to Astrid, who was now with a new, calm expression, despite the conversation. It reminded Merida of her mother, after the tears and the frantic questions, before she could start to think of any reprimands. Beside her, Hiccup had stopped fidgeting. "If her dad survived a bear attack, she can probably handle a rat," he said.  
"Oh my god..." Astrid whispered to herself, closing her eyes.  
Merida played along. "And I probably wouldn't even lose a leg."  
That ended better than it could have.

A tentative third guess: an apology made her look good, and maybe he really meant his. The other guesses, though, still twice as likely.


End file.
